


Falling for a lie

by imsorryimlate



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 16:51:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 31,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/700523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imsorryimlate/pseuds/imsorryimlate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall chat with boys over the internet, pretending to be a girl. With a fake name, Niall keep in touch with Liam, a bloke from his school, but Liam thinks he’s talking to a girl from another country. Liam is slowly, but surely, falling for the girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Niall sighed. Why was he doing this is the first place? He wasn’t gay or anything, he just wanted to try it out, you know? See if blokes was as nice as gals. He looked around the room, feeling guilty. For no reason. He was on a chatt site, Omegle, not surfing porn, it was completely innocent. If it weren’t for the little tiny thing that he was lying about. He said that he was a girl. Chatting away with boys, but he was about to give up. Everyone just wanted camsex or dirty pictures. What was wrong with people nowadays?

He disconnected his latest chattpartner, a perv, and gave it one last try. He clicked at the “new conversation” button, setting himself up with a new stranger.

You: hi :)

_Stranger: I’m a 16 y/o guy and I’m not looking for sex nor am I going to send any dirty pictures. If that’s what you’re looking for, please disconnect. If not, we can talk_

Niall stared at the screen of his laptop. A normal guy?

You: I’m not looking for that stuff either, so we can talk

_Stranger: finally!! So, who are you? :)_

Niall hesitated for a moment, considering to tell the stranger his real name, his real gender. But no, he had a little experiment going on.

You: I’m Nina, you?

_Stranger: Liam. How old are you Nina?_

You: 16, like you.

_Stranger: we got some things in common then :P_

You: like what? Age and that we doesn’t enjoy cybersex? I don’t think we are the only ones ;)

_Stranger: I’ve been on this site all night now, so trust me, we are probably the only ones_

You: where are you from?

_Stranger: should I really tell a stranger? ;)_

You: your choice

_Stranger: I’m from Wolverhampton :)_

You: oh so you trust me now? ;o

_Stranger: maybe… ;) Where are you from yourself?_

You: Ireland

Niall didn’t mention the fact that he had moved from Ireland to Wolverhampton four years ago.

_Stranger: Ireland isn’t very specific_

You: who knows, you might be a killer or a rapist, wouldn’t want you to find me then, eh? ;P

_Stranger: do you really think I would travel all the way to Ireland just to rape you?_

You: you might be a sick fuck

_Stranger: for being a girl, you are very foul mouthed_

Niall’s heart beat faster, he didn’t want his lie about being a girl to be uncovered.

You: ex-boyfriend had a bad language, I guess I picked it up

_Stranger: it’s kind of cute actually :)_

Niall didn’t know how to respond.

You: thanks

_Stranger: did I make you uncomfortable?_

You: no, I’m just not used to be called cute by blokes who doesn’t even know what I look like

_Stranger: a personality can be cute :) but hey, I gotta go, but it was really nice talking to you :) email?_

You: gimme yours

_Stranger: bossy girl… ;) but okay, it’s “liam_payne@email.cøm”, remember that. Let me hear from you :P_

His chattpartner disconnected, but Niall stared at the email address for at least five minutes. Liam Payne went to his school. He had a lot of classes together with Liam Payne. He had just chatted and flirted with Liam Payne. And Liam Payne thought that he was a girl named Nina from Ireland.


	2. Chapter 2

Liam walked through the hall of school and thinking about his conversation with that Nina-girl that had occurred yesterday. He sighed and opened his locker. He felt guilty for even chatting with a girl and more guilty for flirting with her. Because he had a girlfriend. He scanned the messy hall and spotted Danielle. The guilt washed over him harder. Why had he been flirting with that Nina? Danielle walked over to him and he gave her a quick peck on her lips.  
“Hey babe” he said, but his tone was casual. Sure, he loved Danielle, but he just wasn’t sure if he was “in love” with her anymore. Flirting away with Nina were almost proof enough of that.

Liam grabbed his English books before he shut his locker and took Danielle’s hand in his.

As they sat down beside each other, more people started to enter the classroom. Three especially loud boys entered and Liam rolled his eyes. He hated them, all three of them. Harry, Zayn and Niall were best friends, popular, loud and annoying.

He suddenly caught Niall looking over at him, his blue eyes meeting Liam’s own brown ones, before the blonde boy quickly looked away, a small blush creeping over his face.  
That’s weird. He was probably just looking at Danielle, maybe he had a thing for her? Liam grinned at the thought, because Danielle was hot, and Liam was actually just a “nerd”, so it was always satisfying when someone of the popular boys were ogling at his girlfriend.

His thoughts were interrupted by a thump that meant that someone had taken the other seat beside him, and he knew just who it was. His best friend Louis.  
“Hello lovebirds!” Louis greeted them with a wide smile.  
“Hey” Danielle and Liam said in unison.  
Louis searched the room with eager eyes, letting out a happy sigh when he found what he was looking for; Harry Styles’ bum.  
“He got new trousers today” Louis whispered to Liam.  
Yes, Louis had it bad for Harry, at least when it came to his physical appearance. Liam didn’t know if Louis liked Harry’s personality as well, but he hoped the answer was no. Because really, who would like someone like Harry (or Zayn or Niall)? They were attentionwhores and a pain in the ass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall walked into the classroom with his two best mates, and he will just go ahead and admit it; part of him were a bit nervous about seeing Liam.   
Sure, he had been in Liam’s class for ages, but he had never really payed any attention to the boy before.

He looked over at Liam and their eyes met for a matter of seconds before he broke the contact. He felt his face heat up, but why was he embarrassed? No one knew, and no one would.

He sat down with his friends in the back of the classroom and started to steal some glances at Liam. He was a very pretty boy, and he had a pretty girlfriend. Deborah or something was her name. Wait, why would Liam flirt with “Nina” when he already had a girlfriend?  
Niall took his iPhone and started to scribble away a small email to Liam, thanking God that he had such a subtle email himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam’s iPhone beeped a little, telling him that he had a new email. He pulled it up and saw that it was from Nina.

_From: blonde_leprechaun@email.cøm_   
_To: liam_payne@email.cøm_

_Hello, this is Nina, from yesterday, the foul mouthed girl from Omegle, you remember?_   
_I’m having a boring day in school, do you have kik? :)_   
_Mine is Blondie Lep ;)_   
_Let me hear from you this time_

Liam quickly added Nina on kik, then he sent away a small message:

“Hey Nina, it’s Liam. I’m having a boring day in school too… So you’re blonde? :P funny how I feel like Sherlock Holmes for noticing it…. And leprechaun? Are you really short or what? ;)”

Liam bit his lip waiting for the answer. Soon, his phone buzzed.

_Blondie Lep: “I’m from Ireland, duh! Love the Sherlock Holmes movies - and books!”_

Liam smiled at the text message.

“You’ve read the books?! You are like the first person I’ve talked to besides myself who have actually read them :D”

_Blondie Lep: “are you implying that you are talking to yourself, mr Insane? ;)”_

Liam read through his last message and realized that he sounded like a freak who walked around and talking to himself.

“I do not talk with myself…”

_Blondie Lep: “you sure? What if I’m just an hallucination of your twisted mind?”_

Liam chuckled slightly. Then he looked around to see if anyone had noticed his chuckle, but Danielle were busy with her friend Kylie and Louis were busy with reading some old ass book, probably Shakespeare. Louis were obsessed with his writing, but Liam had actually never understood the charm of Shakespeare. So, he went back to texting with Nina.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall’s phone buzzed and he saw that it was another message from Liam.

_Liam Payne: “Hahaha, I’m pretty sure :P but hey, I gotta tell you something… I have a girlfriend. Sorry for not telling you sooner :(“_

Niall enjoyed texting with Liam too much to stop because of a girlfriend.

“It’s okay. What’s her name? And we can still be friends, right?”

_Liam Payne: “Danielle. And of course we will be friends, I really enjoy texting with you :)”_

Niall smiled to himself before sending off a reply.

“That feeling is mutual ;)”


	3. Chapter 3

Liam’s smile. Liam’s laugh. Liam’s serious face. Liam’s voice. Liam’s eyes. His hair and his lips and his whole body.  
Niall sighed, trying to look away from Liam, but it was impossible. He got it bad for Liam Payne.   
They had been chatting and texting (“kiking”) each other everyday for almost a month now, and hell, he was pretty sure he’s gay now. At least he’s gay for Liam.

He was sure he was going to get really bad grades, because lately, all he had been doing was staring at Liam all through the lessons.

He was trying to do it in a subtle way, but he had been caught ridiculously many times by Liam meeting his eyes, a confused and, he guessed, a little irritated expression.  
He always looked away quickly, blushing so hard that people probably thought he was trying to imitate a tomato.

Zayn interrupted his thoughts of Liam by whispering in his ear.  
“Do you remember that chant from yesterday?” he asked with an amused tone.

“Yeah, why?” he looked over to Zayn and Harry beside him and they were both smirking mischievously.

“One, two, three…” Zayn counted and Niall quickly understood.

“Dancing can be nice but I prefer to get WASTED!!!!” the trio shouted loudly in unison, interrupting the teacher, but causing giggles and chuckles from the students.   
Niall looked over at Liam to see his reaction.  
Liam rolled his eyes and sighed, and Niall’s heart sank a little.   
Why did he join that silly chant anyway? It was immature.

“Well, if you boys could be quiet I could tell you about the assignment?” the teacher continued, glaring at the trio.  
“You are going to work in pairs, and you are going to read a book together and write an essay about it and then have a small presentation of the book. I make the groups” the class groaned at her last sentence.

The teacher started to pair them up and Niall prayed that she would put him with Harry or Zayn.

“Zayn and Harry” the teacher called and said boys made a high-five. Niall sighed, he was on his own then.

“Danielle and Louis” they exchanged a small smile.

“Liam and…” the teacher scanned the classroom. “And Niall”   
Niall’s heart almost stopped. He looked over at Liam and saw the disappointed look on the other boy’s face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam almost sighed. Of all the other 23 students in his english class, he got paired up with Niall.  
He really disliked Niall. Of all the attentionwhores, Niall might be the worst. Take for example that lame and foolish chant he and the other two had just shouted…  
And he would probably have to do this assignment alone, because Niall is a selfish bastard that would let him do all the work and then take half the credit for it. That was at least the impression he had of Niall. That and that the Irish boy got some damn problems. Liam had caught Niall looking at him so many times now that he had lost counting. And he was starting to suspect that it hadn’t got anything to do with Danielle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lesson ended quickly with a promise that they could start up their assignment next time. Since it was Friday, English was Niall’s last class for the day. He walked home deep in thoughts.

Liam didn’t seem too excited about working together with him, but he really liked Nina, right? So, if Niall came clean and told Liam about his little lie, maybe Liam would forgive him and understand that he was a nice person. That he was the person that Liam enjoyed texting with for hours.

Yup, Niall had decided to tell Liam about him being Nina, so when he got home he went to his room and sat down on his bed. He picked up his iPhone and was just about to start his confession in a kik message when his phone buzzed, a kik from Liam.

_Liam Payne: “I’m having a shitty day :(“_

“Why? :(” Niall answered.

_Liam Payne: “we got a new assignment in English class today, and I have to work with this dorky prick who I detest :/”_

Niall stared at the message, hurt and angry.

“oh?” he replied.

_Liam Payne: “Yeah, his name is Niall, his Irish and blonde, just like you… That’s weird”_

“why is that weird?”

_Liam Payne: “I dunno… But anyway, he is annoying and he’s probably going to let me do the assignment by myself (wich might be a good idea since he doesn’t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed)”_

Okay, Niall was actually getting really angry now. He didn’t know if he should lecture Liam about being prejudging or not, so he simply asked what the assignment was about.

_Liam Payne: “we are going to read a book and write about it etc. but if I’m right, Niall has barely touched a book and is probably going to pick some lame and you know… “easy” book.”_

Okay, he do have a point when it comes to Niall’s reading habits, because he actually didn’t read a lot, but that didn’t mean that he was slow or couldn’t read heavier literature.

Niall got up from his bed and grabbed his coat and wallet, writing a note to his mother that he was at the library.

Because, Niall was going to prove Liam wrong…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: the chant that Harry and Zayn and Niall shouted was lame, I know, but some guys in my class shouted it in class today and I had it stuck in my head…


	4. Chapter 4

Niall’s phone beeped, signaling a new kik-message.

_Liam Payne: “Nina, I got to tell you something”_

Niall put his book down. He spent this weekend reading some “deep” books, in hope to prove Liam wrong. He was surprised that he actually enjoyed the heavy literature, he should have tried this out sooner. He responded to Liam’s kik:

“What? :o”

_Liam Payne: “I’m thinking about breaking up with my girlfriend”_

Niall’s heart raced. Could this have something to do with “Nina”?

“Why?!”

_Liam Payne: “I don’t know, I’m just not in love with her, and our relationship have become a routine and come on, I’m flirting with you, obviously I’m tired of her… I sound like a jackass, I know :(“_

Niall smiled at the message. He felt a bit evil, but come on, his crush was about to go single and it might be partly because of him!

“I understand. It doesn’t make you a jackass, however if you don’t break up with her when you feel this way - that would make you a jackass”

_Liam Payne: “yeah, I know, but what if I’m making a mistake?”_

“you two have been together for quite a while, yeah? Of course it will feel weird without her, but you can’t just sit around and let her believe everything is good”

_Liam Payne: “you’re right… But I’ll wait a little. Thanks Nina, you’re a great friend! x”_

Niall looked at the little x that was a sign for a kiss and his heart felt lighter. They had never written x’s before.

“you too x”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Louis, pick up, you lousy son of a…” Liam started to say to himself trough the phone, waiting for Louis to pick up.

“Hello?” Louis’ mom’s answered, but it was a little too late to stop the words coming from Liam’s mouth.

“…bitch!” Liam wanted to slap himself.

“What?!” Louis’ mom asked, offended. Liam gasped.

“No! No, I didn’t mean you! I, uh, just, uh, I hit my toe right when you picked up! I didn’t mean to, oh god, I’m so sorry…” he heard Louis’ mom chuckle.

“It’s okay. It’s Liam, right?”

“Yeah, Louis didn’t pick up his cellphone”

“Oh? Well, I’ll go get him. By the way, Liam, you forgot some of your clothes over here at your last sleep over, just so you know”

“Oh, okay. I’ll come and get them later then”

Louis’ mom talked a bit more with Liam before she finally gave the phone to Louis.

“What’s up mate?” Louis asked.

“I need to talk to you”

“Um, yeah? Otherwise you wouldn’t call” Louis said and Liam was almost sure that Louis was rolling his eyes.

Liam took a deep breath.

“I’m thinking about break-“

“Breaking up with Danielle? Yeah, I know”

Liam frowned.

“How did you know?”

“It’s obvious, man. You barely touch her, you never meet up outside if school anymore and all you do is staring down into your phone and texting with that Nina-girl”

“What?! Nina?!”

“What? You think I didn’t know about her? I’ve been reading over your shoulder”

“That is private!”

“But you would’ve told me about her eventually, right?”

Honestly, Liam wasn’t sure.

“Yeah, of course I would”

“Liar” Louis accused in a calm and casual voice. “I know you better than anyone, I can hear when you lie. I can see right through you”

Liam sighed. No use in argue that fact. “I’m sorry” he mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah… So, Danielle? When are you going to do it?”

“I haven’t even decided yet!”

“Liam, listen to me. Deep down in that mind of yours, you know that you have decided. Really. You want out, so get out, for god’s sake! It’s. Not. Fair. To. Dani.”

“I know…” Liam sighed. “I know”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey mom?” Niall walked into the kitchen where his mom was preparing dinner.

“Yes, dear?” she asked and Niall scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Do you have any, you know, “deep” books?”

Niall had read two different “deep” books this weekend, but now he needed one to present to Liam.

“Hm… I have one, but I’m not sure if you are mature enough for it”

Niall sighed. Why did people, even his own mother, think so little of him?

“Mom, I’ve just read “The Kite Runner”, and I think I can handle about anything after that, because it was a really… cruel story”

His mother stared at him.  
“Okay, let me get it for you. Watch the pasta” she said before leaving the kitchen for a few minutes.

She came back with a pocket book in her hands, handing it to Niall.

“Veronika Decides to Die”  
Niall reads the summary and looks up at his mother with a faint smile.  
“It seems sad, but it’s perfect. May I borrow it?”

“Of course, dear”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday and first period is English. Liam sighed, why did he have to be with Niall on this project?

He sat down at his usual table in the classroom and like always, Danielle and Louis sat down on each side of him. Louis gave Liam a knowing look and Liam understood that he meant their conversation about breaking up with Danielle. He just shrugged as an answer.

“Okay everyone, it’s time to start the project! You get this lesson to start it up, but then you have to do it on your free time. Understood? Good. Now sit down in your groups”

Louis and Danielle decided to go to the library to look for a book together, so Liam sat alone and waited for Niall to come to him. He stared down at the table, but was interrupted as a loud “thump” signaled that someone had joined him. He looked up and was met by Niall’s blue eyes. Niall put his bag at his feet and his iPhone at the table.

“Hello Liam” Niall said, and Liam nodded. Okay, time to bring up the book issue, Liam thought.

“Look-” he started, but was cut off by Niall.

“No, YOU look. I don’t know what kind of books you read, but I want some deeper literature. So, I’m sorry to disappoint you, Payne, but we won’t be reading “Twilight”. I have already picked out a book for us”

Liam was unable to speak. He opened his mouth, but no words came out, so he closed it again. It looked like he was trying to imitate a fish.

Niall raised an eyebrow at his reaction.

Niall looked really cute- no, not cute!- he looked annoying when he did that.

Liam faked a cough to get out of his shock.  
“What book did you pick?” he asked with a dry voice and Niall smirked.

“Glad you asked” he said and reached down into his bag, grabbed a book and slammed it hard into the table, making Liam jump with surprise and everyone else’s eyes point in their direction. Niall’s phone beeped with a new message and Liam couldn’t help but glance at it.

Harry: “Are you trying to scare everyone to death, or just Liam?”

Niall snatched his phone away from Liam’s curious eyes.

“No peeking at other’s texts, Mr Payne, haven’t you got any manners?” his tone was teasing and it made Liam blush.

“Sorry” Liam muttered.

Niall pushed the book on the table a little bit closer to Liam so he could look at it, then he turned to his phone.

“Veronika Decide to Die” Liam read out loud.

Without even looking, Niall reached out his hand and flipped the book over so Liam could read the summary. He started to read out loud:   
“Veronika is young and beautiful, have friends and admirers, a job and a family that loves her, yet she is not happy. There is something missing in her life. In the morning of November 11, 1997, she therefore decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up at nearest hospital. She’s told that her heart is damaged and that she only have a few days left to live” Liam paused. “Wow, that seems deep alright”

He looked over at Niall, who looked at him with dreamy eyes.

“I like it how you read it out loud. You got a nice voice” he said and Liam blushed.

“Uh… Thank you?” Now it was Niall’s turn to blush.  
There was an awkward silence.

“There is a film based on the book too, we could watch it after we have read the book” Niall suggested.

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Liam agreed.

“That girl from Buffy the Vampire Slayer plays Veronika”

“You mean Sarah Michelle Gellar?” Liam adored Sarah Michelle Gellar!

“Uh… I guess so, I’m not too conversant about actors” Niall said and smiled. Liam smiled back. Maybe, just maybe, Niall wasn’t as bad as he first had expected…

The thought barely had time to form until Harry and Zayn interrupted their chat and dragged Niall off to make next childish and silly prank.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall went home and thought the day over. The English lesson and conversation with Liam had went good, except for the little awkward moment where he had complimented Liam’s voice.

He logged onto facebook and visited Liam’s profile.  
It was almost a routine now.  
Facebook-stalking wasn’t creepy, right?

Something caught his eye.  
 _“Liam have changed his relationship status to single”_

A wide smile spread across his face.

He was going to snatch this boy!  
Or, at least Nina was…


	5. Chapter 5

_Liam Payne: “I’m thinking about you :) x”_

Niall smiled at the kik.

“Elaborate, please ;)”

_Liam Payne: “Stop your dirty mind right there, Nina haha ;)”_

“What do you mean? My thoughts are completely innocent… ;)”

_Liam Payne: “Innocent, my ass! ;)”_

Niall’s smile grew wider, but then his phone was snapped out of his hands.

“Hey!” he looked up from his spot on Zayn’s bed at the ‘thief’; Harry.

“Let’s see what you are smiling so madly about” Harry said in a teasing tone, and Niall scooted up from the bed and tried to get his phone back, but Harry had already seen the messages.   
He turned to Zayn with wide eyes and a wide grin.

“Niall is doing Liam Payne!” he gasped and threw Niall’s phone carelessly to Zayn.

“What?!” Zayn shouted and caught the iphone, looking at the latest kiks. Niall ran over to the couch where Zayn was seated and finally got his phone back.

“I’m NOT doing Liam!” he said, but Zayn only raised an eyebrow at him.

“How would you otherwise explain the lovey-dovey messages?” he asked and Niall sighed. He sat down on the arm of the couch.

“I… We… It’s complicated. He doesn’t know it’s me” he said and looked down in his lap.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked and furrowed his brows.

“I told him that I was a girl from Ireland” Niall admitted and looked up at his mates, waiting for their reaction.

They both stared at him for a moment before they bursted out laughing like there was no tomorrow. They laughed for a couple of long minutes, ignoring Niall’s request to ‘stop laughing at him’.

Niall had to explain the situation several times before Zayn and Harry understood, and he was being cut off by a bunch of laughing sessions.

“Seriously Niall, what’s your problem?” Harry giggled while he wiped away a tear of laughter that had formed in the corner of his eye.

Zayn suddenly sat up straighter.  
“Am I the only straight person here then?” he asked, looking between the other two.

“Apparently” Harry shrugged, Niall copied his motions.

“But both of you HAVE to promise to not tell anyone!” Harry and Zayn nodded to confirm Niall’s order.  
“And you won’t act funny or strange around Liam, right?” Harry and Zayn looked at each other, then back to Niall, mischievous smirks spreading across their faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Great” Liam thought sarcastically to himself. Like it wasn’t enough to have English class - and the English project - together with Niall, now their math classes had been mixed up together too.

Sometimes Liam felt like God was working against him, because who took the seat next to him if not the blonde annoying twat named Niall?

“Hey there Payne, is it alright if I sit here?” Niall asked with a grin.  
Liam was just about to nod, when Niall continued; “not that I give a shit about what you say…” he turned his attention from a very confused Liam and started to flip through the pages of his thick math book.

Liam furrowed his brows and looked over at the Irish lad beside him. What was up with him? One minute he was all nice and friendly (but annoying) and the other he was being rude… And he had caught Niall looking at him so many times now that he didn’t even try to keep track of it. This boy was clearly a mystery to understand. Not that he cared or anything, he was just some random annoying kid.   
Liam took his phone out and scribbled a quick kik message to Nina.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall saw Liam typing on his phone, then he felt his own buzz in his pocket. He wouldn’t check the message too quickly though, because then Liam would be able to figure out that he was “Nina”.

Harry and Zayn walked by his table.

“Having a good time there, mate?” Zayn asked with a smirk, winking at him.

“Shut up!” Niall growled and glared at his friends.

Harry turned to Liam and said a simple “Hey Liam”.  
Liam returned the greeting to Harry before Niall told him and Zayn to fuck off.

Niall got his phone out of his pocket and read Liam’s latest kik;  
 _“Guess what?! Niall is now sitting next to me in math class, seriously, I think he’s trying to make my life pissy :@”_

Niall was once again taken aback by Liam’s hatred against him. All he wanted was for Liam to like him, but he seemed to annoy Liam with his mere existence!

He put his phone back in his pocket and started to fumble with his pencil as he tried to do the same tricks with it as Zayn could, but he failed completely.

The math lesson started and Niall concentrated as much as he could, but at the end of the lesson he didn’t really felt as if he had learned anything. His train of thoughts were interrupted with a small poke on his shoulder.  
He turned to Liam, who was now standing up. Niall stood up as well.

“What?” he asked, Liam’s latest kik fresh in his mind.

“Did you read the first six chapters of the book as we agreed?” Liam asked with his deep, wonderful voice.

“No, I forgot” Niall admitted truthfully. Liam sighed heavily.

“We agreed to read the first six chapters ‘til today! We were supposed to meet up after school and work on the project, remember?” he ranted, looking down at Niall with irritated and disappointing eyes without patience. Niall felt the anger rise in him.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I told you that I fucking forgot! There’s nothing I can do about it now, so stop nagging!” Niall shouted, causing a few heads, including Harry, Zayn and Louis, to turn and look their way.

“What about the project?” Liam sighed.

“We’ll work on it some other day” Niall shrugged.

“What if I don’t have time some other day?” Liam asked, and Niall sighed.

“Then make some goddamn time” he muttered, then he grabbed his books and disappeared through the door together with Harry and Zayn.

Niall felt his phone buzz and saw that he got another kik from Liam.

_Liam Payne: “The bonehead didn’t even read the book the that HE picked out for us! This project is going to be all on me, I bet my house on it!”_

Niall angrily tucked his phone into his pocket, not responding to any of Liam’s kiks. He was hurt by the other boy’s way of judging him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam looked at his phone for the forth time that minute. A whole day had passed since he sent two messages to Nina, but she hadn’t responded. Maybe she had lost her phone, or it was broken? What if she was hurt? Laying in some hospital in Ireland with a busted skull? Or what if she was dead?! Liam shook his head at his silly thoughts. He wrote another message to her;

“Did something happened? Are you mad at me? Please answer :( x”

Half an hour passed before his phone buzzed with a message.

_Blondie Lep: “yes, I’m mad at you”_

Liam stared at the kik. What had he done?

“But why?!”

_Blondie Lep: “Because you are a bigoted bastard”_

“what do you mean?”

_Blondie Lep: “you said you didn’t know this Niall-guy, and yet you still presume that he’s stupid!”_

Liam was surprised. Why did Nina care so much about Niall?  
“He always act like a tool and he’s so annoying that I want to strangle him!”

_Blondie Lep: “maybe he’s just insecure”_

Liam furrowed his brows.  
“Niall Horan? He’s the model of self-confidence!”

_Blondie Lep: “how can you be so sure?”_

“he always acts like he’s God’s gift to the human population… -.-“

_Blondie Lep: “Exacly. ACTS. The way you describe him, he just seems very insecure. And that’s probably why he act the way he do. Believe me, I would know.”_

“how would you know?”

_Blondie Lep: “I’m like that myself, I’m quite popular and act like I think I’m great, but that’s just a facade. Truth is, I’m just so damn scared of what everyone would think of me, so I act like a bitch. Sure, I got real friends that I love and that love me, but /this/ side of me, the one I’m showing you, the real me… You are the only one who’ve seen this side of me, Liam…”_

The sincere and self-revealing message almost made Liam’s heart ache. It was like Nina bared her soul to Liam, showed him her exposed, true self. And maybe, there was a small question; would he accept her even as he found out she was like Niall? Truthfully, yes. Because Liam cherished the Irish gal, especially after her vulnerable outing of herself.

“I’m sorry”

_Blondie Lep: “it’s okay. But, you should give that Niall a chance”_

Liam decided to take Nina’s advice.


	6. Chapter 6

To be honest, Niall hadn’t really seen himself with clear eyes until now. Explaining his behavior to Liam made him understand himself more than he had ever done before.

He looked up from his book, “Veronika decides to die”, and instead let his eyes settle on Harry and Zayn. They were his best friends, but he wondered how well they really knew him. They rarely talked about things that matter. Liam and he did, when he was “Nina”, and it was easy to talk to Liam about anything.

He had given Liam the advice to give him a chance. Liam had told “Nina” he would, but was that a lie?  
Probably not, Liam wasn’t a lying cunt like he was.   
He sighed and read the last sentences in the book before he put it down on the bench beside him.

It was lunch break and Niall had spent the last hour reading the chapters of the book that Liam had nagged him about two days ago. They hadn’t spoke since then.

Speaking of the devil, Liam came walking down the hall, heading his direction. His heart began to thump hard in his chest when Liam’s big brown eyes settled on him. He stopped right in front of Niall, looking down on him.

“I- … would you please stand up so I don’t feel like a giant?”

Niall and Liam exchanged a awkward smile while he rose to his feet.

“You’re taller than me anyway” Niall said and Liam smiled once again, shyly.

“Aaaaawkward~” Harry whispered to Zayn, who chuckled and Niall glared at them.

“So, I’m sorry about the other day, I shouldn’t have barked at you for not reading the book, I was rude and-”

Liam was cut off by Niall;

“It’s okay. I should’ve read the chapters. And I have! So, we could just start up the project whenever”

Liam sighed, relieved.

“So, uh, do you want to, like, meet up tomorrow after school?” Liam ran his hands through his hair and looked at Niall with pleading eyes.

“yeah, sure, why not?” he shrugged.

“Great” Liam said and turned around to leave.

“See ya tomorrow then, Payne!” Niall called after him. He almost made a happy dance when Liam turned around and came back.

“Why do you insist on calling me by my last name?” he asked Niall with a amused smile.

“Oh, you know, ‘Payne’ and ‘pain’, I find it comical.” he shrugged and Liam’s smile grew wider.

“Do you have any good puns, then?” Liam asked.

“You must have a hard time when you have a headache, since you obviously can’t take ‘Payne-killers’, huh?” Niall said with a grin. Liam chuckled and nodded approvingly.

Harry suddenly scooted up from his seat at the bench.  
“I got one! When you are at the dentist, and he sticks his fingers in you mouth, he is in ‘Payne’!” the pun wasn’t bad, but the most amusing thing was Harry’s eagerness. The mood in the group was light and easy. Until…

Zayn stood up as well.

“I got one even better!” he said with an overexcited voice.  
“If you two were fucking”, he pointed at Liam and Niall, “that would be a ‘Payne in the ass’!” he laughed until he barely could breathe. Liam stared at him with a almost scared expression and Niall slapped a hand on his forehead. Why, oh why, did Zayn have to say that?!

After Zayn discovered that Liam stared at him, Niall glared at him and Harry tried to suppress his own laughter, he understood that the pun maybe hadn’t been appropriate.

There was a long and really awkward silence.

Until Louis saved the day by walking up to Liam and put a arm around his shoulder.

“Sorry to interrupt the intense conversation”, he said with sarcasm dripping from his voice, “but Liam, we have class in two minutes” he said, stealing a quick glance at Harry before he turned his attention to Liam’s panicked face.

“Oh shit!” without even saying goodbye, the two boys turned and walked away in a hurry.

“Oh my fucking God…!” Harry let out and stared after them with big eyes.

“What?” Niall asked with a sigh, still embarrassed after Zayn’s joke.

“Look at that ass!” Harry breathed. Niall turned his eyes in the same direction as Harry’s. “Who is he?” Harry continued, and Niall understood that he talked about Louis. He looked at his bum, and yeah, it looked pretty amazing. Not as good as Liam’s tho.

Zayn stared.  
“Man, I’m straight, but even I have to admit that it’s a really fine arse!”

Harry turned to Niall.  
“A pretty face AND a pretty fanny, you have to introduce us!” he said and Niall chuckled.

“His name is Louis” He grinned at his mate’s reaction to the name. It almost surprised him that Harry’s eyes hadn’t the shape of hearts.

“Is he gay?” he asked. Niall shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe Nina could pry” he said with a smirk and Harry gave him a hug (and those are pretty rare).

“I love Nina!” he exclaimed loudly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Somehow, Liam had started to look forward to his English and math classes. He didn’t know why. Or, to be honest, he did know, he just didn’t want to admit it to himself.

Today, he and Niall was going to meet up after school. He was a bit nervous. He wasn’t really sure what had happened; a few days ago he had been annoyed by Niall and almost hated him and now he was almost happy to spend the afternoon with the blonde. But seriously, who would ever be able to hate someone with a smile brighter than the sunlight?

Liam and Louis were in their English class, and Liam and Niall had been stealing glances at each other during the last hour. Every time they caught each other looking, they would blush, look away and smile down in their respective textbooks.

“Are you sure it was Nina you broke up with Danielle for?”  
Louis whispered to him. Liam stopped his and Niall’s current staring-game and turned to Louis.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that you and Horan are acting like a love struck couple”

“We do not!” Liam whispered back.

“Oh really? You stare each other down pretty hard. Just look at his goofy smile” Louis smirked. Liam looked over at Niall, who quickly looked away, face red and a wide grin on his face. Liam felt his own mouth curl up into a smile. “And look at your own goofy smile”

“Shut up”, Liam said and punched Louis lightly on his shoulder. “I’m only looking at him because he was looking at me”

“Riiight… So you wouldn’t bang him?”

“LOUIS!” Liam stared at him. Louis put his hands up in defense.

“Okay, let me rephrase myself; would you DATE him?”

Liam sighed. “No, I’m straight”

“But if you were gay, who would you date?”

“You, of course.”

“Aw, that’s sweet” Louis smiled at him, then he continued; “But it’s also completely bullshit”

“It’s not! You’re the nicest guy around here!”

“Fuck personality! Which guy in school do you think is hottest then?”

“Lou, I’m strai-“

“Yeah, yeah, you’re straight. But IF you weren’t, which bloke would you find hottest?”

“You”

“Now you’re just being stubborn. Take a look at the lad over there, with blonde hair and eyes bluer than the ocean” Louis placed his hands on Liam’s head and turned it in Niall’s direction. “Now, tell me he isn’t the cutest thing you have ever seen”

Liam groaned and shook Louis hands off his head. “Fine! He’s pretty cute”

Louis ginned in victory.  
“This also explains why you used to loathe him”

Liam looked at him with a irritated look, then simply raised his eyebrow as a question.

Louis took a deep breath and started to explain; “See, you’re straight and had a girlfriend, but something about Niall made you uneasy and you started to dislike him because of the simple fact that you like him.”

Liam started to get frustrated.  
“First of all, I dislike Zayn and Harry too-“

“But you always hated Niall a little bit more and, let’s face it, he’s the least irritating one of the trio”

“And second of all”, Liam continued like he hadn’t been cut off, “I was saying that Niall was cute only because you forced me to pick a guy in school, it’s not like I have a crush on him or anything, so stop analyzing!”

“Okay, I’ll stop” Liam sighed with relief at Louis words. “For now” Louis mumbled and Liam smacked him in the back of his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, you’re ready?” Niall turned around and found Liam standing beside him at his locker.

“Yeah, lemme just get my jacket” Niall said with a smile before he put his jacket on and slung his bag over his shoulder. He slammed his locker shut and nodded at Liam so they started to walk together. Liam had to admit that it felt pretty cool to walk through the halls with one of the popular kids. People stared and a few actually said bye to both of them!

When they stepped out of the school Niall took a deep breath of the chilly October air.

“We’re going to the library” Liam announced and started to lead the way.

Niall really wanted to take Liam’s hand in his, but hello?! Liam would probably punch him in the face.

“So you’re not bringing me home then?” Niall asked, faking disappointment.

Liam smiled. He felt a sudden urge to wrap his arm around the smaller boy’s shoulder, but tucked his hands in his jeans pockets to keep him from doing something that stupid.

“Nope, not on the first date”

“Prude” Niall muttered and Liam chuckled. He had clearly misjudged Niall.


	7. Chapter 7

Liam sat by his kitchen table and ate some cereal when he got a kik from Nina.

_Blondie Lep: “Good morning cutie xx”_

A warm feeling started to spread in his gut and he smiled at the kik.

“you don’t know what I look like, honey x”

_Blondie Lep: “are you going to be mad at me if I tell you that I checked your facebook?”_

“how did you find me? :o”

_Blondie Lep: “your last name is in your email, you freaking dumbass”_

“oh, right… So you think I’m cute? ;)”

_Blondie Lep: “Stunning :* “_

Liam’s stomach did some flips at the words.

“now it’s only fair if I get to see you :P”

_Blondie Lep: “nuh-uh! You only got yourself to blame for putting personal information in your email address”_

“Why won’t you let me see you?”

_Blondie Lep: “what if you think I’m ugly?”_

“I’m going to be honest here, I would prefer if you were pretty, but that doesn’t really matter xxxxxx”

_Blondie Lep: “that is the sweetest thing anyone have ever said to me :’) but still, no, you have to wait a while”_

Liam didn’t want to put any pressure on her.

“It’s okay, take your time babe x”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, what do you think?” Liam asked, showing Louis the latest kik messages.

“I think that you are dangerously close to being in a relationship with this girl” Louis said and gave Liam his phone back.

They continued walking down the halls, full of students trying to make it to their first classes of the day.

Liam furrowed his brows slightly.

“Is that really a bad thing?” he asked and looked at Louis, who sighed.

“Liam, this girl lives in Ireland. Do you know how… pathetic it is to have a relationship with someone over the phone?”

“What do you mean?”

“You will barely meet her, you don’t know what she looks like - you don’t even know where she lives!”

Liam thought this over.  
“You are probably right.”

“Exactly. And you already got someone else over here.”

“If you even going to IMPLY that you think it’s Niall, then I’ll have to kill you”

Louis put his hands up in defense, like he always did when he tried to act innocent at the same time that he did all he could to irritate Liam.

“I’m just saying…”

“Can’t you just shut up for once?!” Liam asked and opened his locker with angry movements. After he got his books he slammed the lockerdoor shut and started to walk to his math class. He heard Louis footsteps behind him and turned around to face him.

“Why are you so obsessed with the idea of me and Niall anyway?!”

Louis kept his eyes glued to the floor, like he was ashamed.

“I’m… I just don’t want to be alone in this…”

“In what?” Liam asked and raised his eyebrow.

“In being gay” Louis said and looked up at Liam, biting his bottom lip.

“Oh Louis…” Liam took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Louis’ smaller form. He didn’t care that they stood in the middle of the hallway and that everyone could see them.  
“It’s okay, you will find lots of gay friends when you get a bit older”

Louis giggled. “That was the worst attempt at comfort in world history”

Liam smiled an stroked Louis’ hair.  
“I… I don’t know what else to say. I can’t simply turn gay for you”

Louis lifted his head from Liam’s shoulder and grinned at him.

“But maybe you could turn gay for Horan, right?”

“Let’s just get to class!” Liam announced and he heard Louis laugh behind him as he walked into their classroom.

Niall was already sitting at their table and he waved at Liam. He clapped Louis on the shoulder as a farewell before he went to sit down by his new friend. Or maybe he didn’t count as a “new” friend anymore? They had met up at the library and worked on their project for about two weeks, and they had a really good time actually. But Liam refrained himself from getting too close to Niall, not only because of Louis constant reminder of how Niall “looked at him like he was the greatest thing on earth”, but he knew that somehow Louis was right about him finding Niall cute.

“So…” Niall started and looked at him.

“So?”

“The hallway cuddle; what was that all about?” Niall said and smiled.

“Louis was just having a bit anxiety about being gay”

Liam regretted the words as soon as they slipped out of him. It wasn’t like it was a secret or anything, but the whole school didn’t need to know that Louis preferred bratwurst in front of tacos, so to speak.

“So, library after school?” Niall asked without commenting on Louis’ sexuality.

Liam nodded and smiled, relieved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“He looks amazing…” Harry sighed and looked at Louis, who were laughing with some of his friends. Then he turned to Niall.

“It’s been two weeks since I laid eyes on that sexy beast, and you still haven’t found out if he’s gay or not! You told me that Nina was going to pry!” he accused and crossed his arms over his chest.

Niall rolled his eyes.   
“Nina doesn’t need to pry, because Liam said it to my face this morning. Louis is gay, so stop nagging and go get him, tiger!” Niall said and pushed Harry in Louis’ direction. Harry hit him lightly on his blonde head.

“The whole plan was for you to introduce us!” he reminded Niall.

“Me and Liam are going to work on the project in the library after school. Louis and Danielle are usually there too”

“WE’LL BE THERE!” Harry shouted and Zayn grinned at his excited mate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall sighed and tried to concentrate on what Liam said, but the words got lost and all he could think about was the way Liam’s lips were moving and how his deep voice floated into Niall’s ears and filled his whole body.

He constantly imagined how it would be to rest his head on Liam’s chest and feel how his voice made vibrations buzzing through his head… He was getting goosebumps from the mere thought!

“Niall? Are you even listening?” Liam’s words brought him back to reality.

“Hm? No, not really” he answered truthfully and Liam sighed.

“You got the attention span of a 5 year old!” Liam complained and Niall rolled his eyes as an answer.

He spotted Harry between some bookshelfs, doing some body signs that Niall soon figured out meaning that he wanted Niall to introduce him to Louis soon. Niall simply nodded as an answer.

He turned to Liam and tried to figure out how to ask him if it was a good idea to introduce the boys to each other. He saw that Harry moved a little bit closer so he was able to hear their conversation.

“So, um, Louis and Harry, do you think we should introduce them to each other?” he asked as casually he could manage at the moment.

Liam furrowed his brows.

“Why?”

Niall looked at Louis and saw that he was glancing over to where Harry had been sitting with Zayn before.

“Oh, you know, they seem like a pretty good match, you know, and you said that Louis is gay, you know…”

Liam smiled at Niall. He found it rather adorable how the Irish lad always threw in a couple of extra “you know”s into his sentences when he was nervous or didn’t know what to say.

“So Harry’s gay?” he asked with a smile. Louis was going to be utterly happy with him if he introduced him to Harry.

“Well, he practically fucks everything that got two legs” Niall shrugged and Liam’s smile grew a bit.

“Even monkeys?”

“Probably. He enjoys to visit the zoo” Niall said and Liam couldn’t help to laugh at the lousy joke. Niall looked over at Harry and saw him smacking his hand on his forehead.

Before Liam could text Louis to come over, the brown haired boy sat down at their table.

“Seriously mate, I know that you and Danielle had a ‘good’ break up, so to speak, but I think she got something against me for being your friend!” he hissed.

“That’s right”, Niall said thoughtfully, “how’s single life treating ya?” he asked Liam.

“Good, I guess, I mean, of course I miss her sometimes but… You know” oh my God, was he picking up on Niall’s ‘you know’-habit?

“Are you getting over her?” Niall asked in what he hoped was a casual tone.

“Yeah… I mean, I think the process of getting over her started a little before I broke up with her actually” Liam admitted and Niall nodded.

“Hey guys” Harry said and sat down beside Niall and have him a meaningful look.

“Oh, right… Uh, Louis, this is my friend Harry” he pointed at the curly haired boy. “Harry, this is Liam’s best mate; Louis”

“Hi!” Harry said in an overexcited squeak.

“Hi…” Louis breathed back. He had been crushing on Harry for what felt like forever.

Niall wanted to leave the two of them alone, so he turned to Liam and suggested that they went out for a bit of food.

“But the project…” Liam started to protest, but Niall cut him off.

“First of all, I’m hungry and second of all, I need a break”

He stood up and put his jacket on, Liam did the same without a word. They said bye to their mates, who only had eyes for each other.

When they walked through the doors of the library, Niall turned to Liam and said;

“And third of all, they could use some alone time”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall patted his tummy with a satisfied sigh.

“That was really good!” he said and smiled at Liam, who stared at him with big eyes. This was obviously the first meal he had shared with Niall.

“You eat unbelievably much. I mean, how can you eat that much without getting fat?!” Liam asked, perplexed.

Niall shrugged. “I don’t really work out, but I don’t just sit around either”

They were sitting in a café, just a five minute walk from the library. During their meal, Niall had told Liam the most unbelievable anecdotes and Liam had actually opened up a little and told Niall briefly about his family.

They decided to head back to the library and finish up today’s work of the project.

Niall was almost attacked by Zayn as soon as they arrived.

“Thank God that you are here, dude! I’ve been so lonely! Harry and Louis have been talking for the whole time you were gone and I didn’t want to interrupt them”

Liam hurried to their table and started to speak with Louis, and Harry joined Zayn and Niall where they stood by the entrance.

“How’s it going?” Niall asked a grinning Harry.

“He’s… Indescribable” he sighed.  
“I’m thinking about asking him out”

“Do it!” Zayn said and clapped his hand on Harry’s back. Then he turned to Niall. “Where were you, by the way?”

“We went to a café” Niall said, smiling.

“Were you planning on seducing him with your never-ending appetite?” Harry snorted.

“He was probably just showing Liam his insane skills at deep throating a banana” Zayn snickered. Harry looked confused at Niall.

“You can’t do that” he stated, but it sounded vaguely like a question.

“Yes he can” Zayn assured him.

“What… Why… How do you even know that, Zayn?” Harry looked between the two.

“Two weekends ago, when you were away and sucking cock…”

“I was at my grandma’s, I told you that” Harry interrupted.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever”, Zayn continued, “me and Niall were bored at my place and we were talking about Liam and I told Niall that he had to know how to suck dick properly, so I gave him a banana to practice on - and he just deep throated it like it was nothing!” Zayn was more excited over this than he should be, he acted like Niall had found the cure for cancer or something.

“That isn’t really true, I almost threw up” Niall corrected, but Zayn just patted his head.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m so proud of you!” Zayn shouted, faking tears.

Harry cleared his throat and raised his eyebrow. “So, did you eat a banana at the café?” he asked and earned a smack on his head from Niall.

“No… Now go and ask your boy out!” he said. The trio made their way over to Liam and Louis.

Niall sat down at the table, but Zayn and Harry remained standing.

“Uh… We are leaving now, but it was wonderful to meet you Louis” he said and Louis lit up like a damn supernova.

“You too Harreh!” he said and blushed slightly.

Harry bit his lip nervously, and Zayn nudged his side lightly with his elbow, it was his way of showing support.

“And I was wondering, uh, if you would like to go out with me sometime?” Harry said and smiled shyly at Louis.

“Yes! Of course! … I mean, yeah, sure…” Louis had a hard time to not make a happy dance.

“Okay, I’ll call you!” Harry said with a wide smile before he and Zayn turned and walked out of the library.

Harry, however, came back five minutes later.  
“I forgot to ask for your number…” he said awkwardly and Niall couldn’t help himself as he started to laugh, Liam soon joined in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Liam Payne: “You were right the whole time Nina, I gave Niall a chance and he is a really nice guy. And his best friend Harry asked my best friend Louis out! Can you believe it?!”_

Niall smiled at the kik. Yeah, he could believe it, because he had been there. Liam just didn’t know that. Niall felt the guilt start to spread through his body again. This situation became more and more complicated for each passing day.


	8. Chapter 8

“That was… Interesting” Niall said, walking out of natural science class with Louis. He wasn’t sure if Louis heard the slight sarcasm sweeping through his statement or not, because he only nodded.

“So, do you feel prepared for tomorrow?” the brown haired boy asked him.

“What about tomorrow?” Niall asked, already getting a bit nervous.

“Please tell me you didn’t forget about the test we have tomorrow?!” Louis begged, but he could see from the panicked look on Niall’s face that he, indeed, did forget.

“FUCK!” Niall yelled and a few students looked at him, while Louis rolled his bright blue eyes.

“I would help you study, trust me, but I got another date with Harreh tonight” he said with a smile.

“Why can’t you help me instead?! He’s not going to dump you just because you cancel one date! Besides, you two have been on like a million dates already!” Niall looked at Louis pleadingly, but the brunette just ruffled his hair.

“You understand that meeting the person you’re in love with is worth so much more than anything else, right? I mean, that’s why you’re always so excited when me and Liam hang out with you and Harreh and Zayn, or when you and Liam work on your project, am I right?”

Niall looked at him with big eyes and Louis saw how the boy paled in front of him.

“What… How did you know?! Did Harry tell you?! That bastard!” Niall was sure he’s going to strangle Harry next time he saw him.

“No, Harreh didn’t tell me, you dork”, Louis hit him in the head lightly, “I figured out this all on my own. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that you are head over heels for Liam, every time he’s around you… You are like… You’re glowing”

Niall turned bright red.

“Did you tell Liam?” he asked, scared of what the answer might be.

Louis didn’t know what to tell Niall. He had told Liam, but on the other hand it would probably destroy the group chemistry if he told Niall that Liam knew about his “secret”. And he hadn’t convinced Liam to date Niall yet, due to that stupid Nina-girl who had Liam wrapped around her finger.

“No, I didn’t tell him. And I don’t think he noticed anything, he’s pretty thick” Louis smiled at a relieved Niall, but the smile didn’t really feel real, since he lied about two things;

1\. That he didn’t tell Liam  
2\. That Liam didn’t notice

Ouch, he was a bad friend, wasn’t he?

“Uh… Come with me to my locker, I’ll give you my notes to study with, it might help you” Louis began to lead the way and Niall followed silently.

Louis opened his locker and shoved a thousands of papers and notes into Niall’s arms. Niall looked down on the pile and understood that he would most definitely need help.

“Fucking shit…” he sulked.

Then he saw Liam walking towards them.

“Hey guys” he said but none of the two answered, instead Louis was writing down some extra important pages of their natural science book on one of the notes Niall was holding.

“So, Niall, do you want to work on the project today?” he asked and Niall groaned.

“I can’t, I got a goddamn test tomorrow and I forgot to study - I didn’t even know I had it! I’m going to fail, I’m sure…” Niall looked at the pile of papers in his arms and sighed sadly.

“Uh… I could help you, maybe?” Liam suggested and Niall’s head snapped up.

“Really?!” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah… I mean, I got no homework today anyway” Liam shrugged.

Niall smiled brightly at him.

“Thanks mate! You’re the best! Meet me at my locker after school and we’ll head over to my place” Niall walked away with a smile on his lips and a lot of papers in his hands.

Liam smiled at the sight and turned to Louis, who had a small smirk playing on his lips.

“What?” he asks.

“You two are finally getting over the library thing, he’s taking you home”

“That doesn’t mean anything!”

“It does; Time to ravish him!”

“Shut up Lou!”

“I can almost picture it; you pushing him up against a wall and then-“

“If you finish that sentence I’m going to tell Harry about you having a copy of his schedule for two years!”

“Okay, I’ll be quiet, chill man”

But still, the image of him pushing Niall up against a wall didn’t leave Liam’s mind, and he tried his best to ignore the small tingling in his lower abdomen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, this is my room” Niall said and shut the door behind them.

Liam looked around with curious eyes. It was pretty messy, but it smelt just like Niall. Liam didn’t even know when he had noticed Niall’s scent, but he knew he really liked it. On the wall over Niall’s bed there was a poster of Justin Bieber.

“Nice poster” he said with a teasing smile and nodded in the direction of JB. Niall blushed slightly.

“I… He’s really good, and I… I don’t usually bring people to my room” he said with a slight blush.

“Hey, I was just teasing” Liam said and walked over to Niall’s bookshelf. There were only a few books, then there was mostly CDs and other random stuff. He saw that most of the books were Sherlock Holmes books.

“Sherlock Holmes?” He asked and looked over at Niall, who shrugged.

“I don’t read a lot, but when I do, I like to keep it by high standards.”

Liam nodded and looked down at the floor.

Niall followed his gaze and both boys spotted a pair of boxer briefs laying on the floor.

“Uh…” Niall turned red and kicked them under the bed. “You weren’t supposed to see those”

“At least not yet” Liam said, trying to lighten the mood, but his voice had lost its teasing tone and just made everything more awkward.

The tension between them was heavy and Liam searched the room for a object or a reason to change the topic.

He spotted a guitar in a corner.

“You’re playing the guitar?” he asked and pointed at the instrument.

“Yeah!” Niall breathed out, like he had been holding his breath. Maybe he had?

“Well?”

“Well what?” Niall asked.

“Aren’t you gonna play me a song?”

Niall looked at Liam’s sweet smile, and decided to play one of his favorite songs. He had actually never preformed before, the only ones who had heard him was his parents. He picked up his guitar and walked over to his bed. He patted the spot beside him and Liam sat down with a smile.

He checked that his guitar was in tune, then he started to play and sing.

_“Well, it started with your hips_   
_So I moved up to your lips_   
_To take a chance, ask for a dance_   
_‘Cause you’re the cutest thing_   
_On this side of the world_   
_We call our homes, yet I feel so all alone_   
_Half of the time we gotta live_   
_With what we got and I got nothin’_   
_So I pray you take my hand_   
_So we can conjure up somethin’ rad”_

Liam recognized the song and decided to join in the chorus.

_“And you could move on with your life_   
_Just like you do, just like you shooby do do do_   
_But you could make everything alright and I want you to_   
_Because ever since the first dance_   
_All I thought about was lovin’ on you”_

Niall first seemed surprised when Liam joined, but then he smiled and motioned for Liam to sing the second verse on his own.

_“So I moved to the dance floor_   
_With instincts and nothing more_   
_I had ants in my pants, I did the boogie dance_   
_And there was nothing to do but laugh_   
_So I took another leap_   
_Hoping to sweep you off your feet_   
_I said ‘Baby, maybe we could bust this joint_   
_And see if my place is open to chill’ “_

They sang the chorus together two more times before the song ended and they smiled brightly at each other.

“You’re really good” Liam complimented.

“Me?” Niall snorted, “I sound like a creaking floorboard compared to you, you fucking angel” he said and smiled.

“I don’t know how to take that comment” Liam said and chuckled. “But really, you’re very good, trust me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I need a breaaaak…!” Niall whined.

“Another one?” Liam raised his eyebrow.

“Yes” Niall pouted. “We could go downstairs and see if there’s anything to eat” he suggested.

“Again?” Liam couldn’t help but smile amused at the blonde lad in front of him on the bed.

“Pleeeeeeease!” Niall gave him his best puppy eyes. Liam sighed and put down the natural science book he was currently skimming through.

“Okay” he said and they went down to the kitchen.

Just as they were eating whatever random food they found, the front door opened.

Mr and mrs Horan was home.

“Hello Niall!” Mrs Horan laid eyes on Liam. “Oh, you got company! Who’s this?” she smiled nicely at Liam, who stood up and offered her his hand in a greeting.

“I’m Liam, ma’am.”

“Call me Maura.”

Niall’s father stepped forward and shook Liam’s hand as well.

“And I’m Bobby.”

“Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Bobby chuckled lightly.  
“You finally got yourself a polite friend there, Jamie” he smiled at his son.

Liam looked at Niall, confused.  
“Jamie?” he asked and both Niall and Bobby chuckled. He could see where Niall got his carefree personality from.

“My middle name is James, but I guess dad is the only one who makes a nickname from it”

“And I’m also the only one who gets to call you that” Bobby said and ruffled Niall’s hair.

“My middle name is also James” Liam admitted and Niall smiled brightly at him.

“We got so much in common!” he announced, but Liam couldn’t really agree.

He, of course, didn’t know that Niall was referring to some of the things Liam and Nina had in common.

“So, Niall, no homework today?” Maura asked and glanced at Liam.

“Um, yeah, I got a test tomorrow and that’s why Liam’s here; he’s being an angel and tutors me tonight”

Liam noticed, amused, that Niall’s adorable Irish accent got thicker when he spoke with his parents.

Maura nodded approvingly at Niall’s last sentence.  
“That’s really sweet of you Liam”

“Yeah,” Bobby continued, “not to complain, but his other mates doesn’t do the study-thing a lot, I’ve heard. I don’t know if you know them, Harry and Zayn?”

“Oh, yeah, I know them. Since Niall and I started to hang out I’ve become friends with them as well, I guess. I have P.E together with Zayn” Liam explained quickly.

“And his best mate Louis is dating Harry” Niall added, which surprised Liam. Did he just push his friends sexuality in the light of parents eyes?

Maura and Bobby didn’t react much except for a nod and a approving hum.

Liam wasn’t used to parents reacting so… “normal” against homosexuality. He had never even talked about it with his parents. Hell, did they even know that Louis is gay? Liam always thought it was pretty obvious, but you never knew.

He wondered how they would react if they knew that he had a crush on his Irish mate…

Liam’s eyes widened in surprise at his own thoughts. Crush? He didn’t have a crush on Niall! Right?

It was just Louis’ talking that we’re getting to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“They liked you.” Niall said and smile at Liam from across the bed.

“Parents usually like me… Except for when I accidentally call them bitch”

“Huh?”

Liam explained the awkward incident when he called Louis’ mom a bitch over the phone, and the blonde just couldn’t stop laughing.

Somehow, Niall ended up with Liam’s phone in his hands and Liam got a bit nervous, because if he recalled correctly, Louis had sent some suggestive texts about Niall.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Liam stuttered and tried to get his phone back.

“Relax, I’m just stealing your number. I consider phones very private, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, touch my iBaby,” Niall patted his pocket where Liam knew his iPhone were stuffed into, “and I will kick your two front teeth out.” He handed Liam his phone back, and he saw the new contact in his list;

“Sexlord McFucky? Your humor sucks, Niall!” he said and chuckled.

Niall suddenly stood up and looked out the window.

“It’s snowing!” he announced excitedly.

“That isn’t so weird, since it’s the first of December today.” Liam stood up as well and took his place behind Niall.

Niall glanced up at him over his shoulder.  
“Really? I thought that was on Friday…”

“Nope, it’s the second.”

Without thinking it over, he gently placed his hands on either of Niall’s shoulders.

He didn’t seem to mind, so Liam stood there; close to Niall and watching the first snow fall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam woke up from the sound of his phone vibrating. He tried to ignore it, but the buzzing just wouldn’t stop.

He picked his phone up and saw “Niall Sexlord” calling him. They had debated for a long time about what Niall’s contact name would be, but Liam had finally allowed the “Sexlord” to stay the same.  
He looked at the time; 05:02

“Niall, you better have a really good reason for calling me at this time” he groaned into the phone.

_“Hello Liam, what are you doing?”_

“SLEEEPING!”

_“Oh…”_

“Why are you calling?”

_“I couldn’t sleep…”_

“I’m sure that if you just try to sleep-“

_“I’ve been awake since 04:15, and I’ve been trying to get back to sleep, but it’s not working!”_

“So you thought of the brilliant idea of calling me at 5 am on a Saturday?” Liam yawned into his palm.

 _“Sorry…”_ as much as Liam wanted to hang up and just go back to sleep, he just couldn’t leave Niall alone in his restlessness.

“It’s okay. Why can’t you sleep?” he asked and sat up in his bed so he wouldn’t fall asleep again.

_“I dunno. Just woke up at 04:15 and was more alive than I’ve been since I started high school.”_

“Okay?” Liam yawned again.

 _“Have you read the last two chapters of ‘Veronika decides to Die’?”_ Niall asked suddenly.

“No, I was planning on doing it tomorrow… Or, today” he yawned again.

_“I haven’t read them either…”_

“Uhuh?” Liam didn’t knew where Niall was going with this.

 _“Can you read them to me?”_ Niall’s voice was fragile.

“Uh… Now? Over the phone?”

 _“Yeah”_ Liam could almost see Niall shrugging.

“Uh… Okay” Liam turned on his bedside lamp and found the book on the floor.

He puffed his pillows and seated himself comfortably before he started to read with a raspy morning voice that soon turned into his usual soft angelic voice.

Hours later, when the sun began to rise and the book had ended, there was an cozy silence.

“This was nice” Liam whispered.

 _“Yeah… You voice is incredible, Li”_ Niall whispered back.

Liam’s heart got warm and it felt as if it was growing.

“Are you feeling sleepy yet?”

Liam didn’t get an answer besides the light snoring on the other side of the line. He smiled and sighed, he felt happy. Peaceful.

“Sleep tight Nialler” he whispered into the phone before he hung up and got back to sleep himself.


	9. Chapter 9

Liam heard footsteps behind him, fast, probably running. He turned around and was met by Niall throwing himself at him, wrapping his arms around his neck. Liam put his arms around Niall’s back, not sure what else to do.

“Thank you!” Niall squealed and his voice was filled with happiness.

“You’re welcome, I guess, but what for?” Liam chuckled and smiled awkwardly at the stares that was given to them, you know, standing in the middle of the hallway and all…

“I passed! I passed the test an’ it’s all thanks to you! Thank you so, so, so much!” he squeezed Liam closer, and Liam flushed slightly. He had to admit, having Niall’s body pressed against his felt kinda good.

Liam had waited the whole weekend, the whole Monday and the whole Tuesday, he had waited and waited and waited the whole week for his “straight-guy-freak-out” to come, but no. He had accepted the fact that he actually had a crush on Niall. And while he wasn’t freaked out about Niall being a dude, he was a bit scared about the fact that he and Niall was getting so close. Sure, he might have a crush on a guy, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to have a relationship with one. Really, that just wasn’t him. Nu-uh. And crushes pass pretty quickly, right?

Niall calmed down slightly and pulled away, but kept his arms loosely around Liam’s neck. Liam subconsciously held onto Niall’s waist as they beamed at each other.

“I got an B” Niall said happily.

“That’s great Niall! I knew you had it in you.”

“Thanks to you.”

“No, I just helped.”

“Shut it, Li, it was thanks to you, now accept my invitation on a celebration lunch with the others.”

“Okay, where?”

“School cafeteria, sorry.”

Liam chuckled slightly and nodded.

“You two need to back off or gay rumors will start.” a teasing voice sounded behind Liam.

He let go of Niall awkwardly and turned to Louis and Harry, standing behind him and holding hands.

“Like hanging out with you two haven’t already started them” he muttered and tried to fight his blush.

Harry kisses Louis’ temple and smirks.

“I heard something about lunch?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re all eating together to celebrate my B in natural science…”

“You got an B?!” Louis shouted and Harry took a small step away from him, covering his ears. “I just got an fucking C+!”

“Well, you didn’t have a great tutor” Niall said and slung his arm around Liam’s shoulder.

“Bitches…” Louis murmurs.

“So!” Harry interrupts before anyone could register Louis’ comment. “Lunch?”

“Yeah, Zayn’s holding a table while I went to get you guys.”

The three brunettes followed Niall to the school cafeteria where Zayn waved them over to their table. He already got their food, so they just sat down and began to eat.

Louis placed himself in Harry’s lap and Harry wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist to keep him there.

“Aw, they are adorable” Zayn said and grinned widely at the couple.  
Niall chuckled slightly through all the food that was stuffed into his mouth.

“So, you’ve been out open for a week now, right? How’s it going?” Liam asked.

“Well, good. Most people knew that I’m gay, but a lot of girls had their heart broken about Harreh” Louis said and patted Harry’s curls.

“No mean comments?” Niall wondered.

“Uh, well, yes, of course there have been some insults, but nothing we can’t handle. People are just stupid.” Louis shrugged and Harry nodded, agreeing.

“Yeah, and our parents already knew, so no trouble there either. They approve.” Harry added.

Zayn suddenly stood up with his glass of milk in his hand.

“I would like to make a toast to Niall for his B in natural science, to Liam for helping him and to Louis for getting an D+” he said ceremoniously.

“C+!” Louis yelled.

“C+, of course” Zayn said and raised his glass.

The others raised their glasses also, and shouted “Cheers!” with big smiles.

Zayn sat down and ruffled Niall’s hair.  
“I’m proud of you, my son!”

Niall pushed his hand away and laughed. “Gee, thanks ‘dad’.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt the father-son moment, but we all got English class soon, and Niall? We’re doing our presentation on the book today.” Liam spoke up.

“Oh, right…” Niall mumbled.

“You didn’t forget, did you?” Liam asked in an almost warning tone.

“… ‘course not!” Niall lied - but everyone saw right through it.

“Niall! Are you even prepared?!” Liam asked, panic raising within him. This project happened to be a very important one.

“Well, no, but I think I can handle it…” Niall shrugged and dove down to his food once again.

“Stop eating!” Liam commanded. “We will prepare you as much as we can in the few minutes that’s left!” he said and stood up, throwing away his leftovers and headed for the exit of the cafeteria.

“Okay…” Niall sighed and stuffed some more food into his mouth.

“Niall!!” Liam shouted from a distance.

“I’m coming Li!” he yelled and stood up as well. “See you guys later then…” he said as he left the table to follow Liam.

The three that was left at the table looked after them for a while.

“I guess I’m not the daddy here…” Zayn mumbled with a smile.

Louis nodded. “Yeah, Liam is Niall’s daddy.”

“Ugh, incest!” Zayn yelled and chuckled.

“ZAYN!” Harry said and gave him a meaningful look.

“Oops…” he shrugged.

“It’s okay, I know.” Louis assured them.

“How much do you know?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That Niall is crushing on Liam.”

“So you don’t know about…” Zayn started, but was cut off by Harry.

“ZAYN!”

“Sorry!”

“Know about what?” Louis asked, confused and curious.

“Nothing!” Harry said, a little too fast. “But like Liam said, class starts soon, we should probably get going…” he quickly changed the topic, because Louis actually didn’t need to know about the whole ‘Nina’-mess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Very good, boys.” the teacher complimented after their presentation. Liam gave Niall a quick high five.  
“I’ve read your essay on the book, and together with the presentation I give your project an A.”

Niall squealed and launched himself at Liam, who quickly lifted him up and spun him around before putting him down. Everyone, except for Louis, Harry and Zayn, found it a bit weird to see the two of them being so close. Until only a few month ago the boys had barely talked to one another, heck, Liam had even kind of disliked Niall. Everyone knew that. But now, things had changed.

To the public eye, a friendship had been created.  
But Niall and Liam both knew that it was something different between them than friendship.  
Love, on Niall’s part.  
On Liam’s part? He wasn’t sure yet, and he wasn’t very eager to find out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Liam, seriously, it’s like two days left of school.” Louis said after he had poked Liam out of sleep for the third time that day.

“Yeah, I know” Liam said while rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep out of them.

“Why are you so tired anyway?” Louis quirked an eyebrow at his friend; he usually made sure to get his sleep so he wouldn’t be tired in school, even if it was just two days left.

“I texted with Nina until 3 AM last night” Liam said and yawned into his palm.

“3 AM?! What on earth do you text about at 3 AM?!” Louis asked and sounded almost angry, but it was only because he was so… surprised.

“Uh…” Liam’s face flushed and he avoided Louis’ curious stare.

“Tell me.” Louis demanded.

“We, uh, we… We sexted” Liam said quietly, blushing deeply.

“What?!” Louis shouted, earning a glare from the professor.

“You know, when you write sexual stuff to each other…” Liam scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment.

“I know what sexting is, you dumb fuck!” Louis cut him off. “I just didn’t think that you would… Or, I mean, I didn’t really expect it.”

Liam shrugged, still red faced.

“So, how was it?” Louis asked with a smirk and poked him in his ribs.

“Good, I guess. We mostly talked about my body, or, you know, what she would do to me… She didn’t, I mean, she preferred to not talk about her own body, it was like she avoided to talk about it… I don’t know, I just… I just…”

“Jerked off?”

“Lou!”

“Did you?”

“We should stop talking about this…”

“You did!”

“Shut up…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Vas happenin’ for Christmas?” Zayn asked the four boys in front of him.

“Home.”

“Home.”

“Home.”

“Riiiiight… Home then?” Zayn raised an eyebrow and all the boys set their eyes on Niall, since he was the only one who hadn’t answered the question.

“I’m going back to Ireland with my family, we’re going to visit some relatives and celebrate with them.” He shrugged.

“Well, I’m going to…” Zayn started, but he was cut off by Liam.

“Ireland? No texting then?” he asked Niall, who shook his head.

“Heeelloooo?” Zayn said and punched Liam’s shoulder. “I was talking, you can’t just cut me off, jerk!”

“I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

“Well, I was saying that I’m going to Bradford to visit some friends…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall was going to shut off his connection on his phone while he was in Ireland, otherwise it would cost a lot of money, so he wouldn’t be able to kik Liam as Nina… But what would he tell Liam?

He thought for a moment before he sent away an email.

_From: blonde_leprechaun@email.cøm_   
_To: liam_payne@email.cøm_

_Hey Liam :)_   
_My phone broke, so I can’t kik you :( but we can always send emails right?_   
_I will kik you when I get my phone back._   
_And if we don’t talk before X-mas;_   
_Merry Christmas Liam! :P_   
_Xxx Nina_


	10. Chapter 10

A walk. He was out for a walk. Nothing else, he wasn’t stalking Liam or anything, he was just out for a walk. In Liam’s neighborhood. It wasn’t  _his_ fault that his feet had him walking this way. It wasn’t  _his_ fault that he had found out exactly where Liam lived without him knowing. He was just out for a walk.

 

Okay, he was bothered. He had been in Ireland and not only had he been unable to text Liam as Niall, he had also had difficulty to email him as Nina because the internet connection sucked and his mother had kept nagging him about “rude” it was to sit by your host’s computer all the time (But hello? He was there for almost two weeks, what did she expect him to do? Watch the landscape?).

 

So texting Liam didn’t feel natural right now, and he didn’t have a good ice breaker if it might be needed. What would he even write? “Hey, I’m home now”? And what did he expect? That Liam would come running to his house? He wasn’t even sure if Liam cared at all!

 

Niall sighed at the thoughts and questions and ‘what if’s that were running trough his mind.

He had been home for two whole days and he hadn’t contacted any of his friends yet, because he had fucking problems and thought that the word would somehow travel to Liam and that the older boy would get mad(?) because Niall hadn’t told him about his homecoming.

 

So, you might wonder what Niall had been doing in these two days he had been home? Lying in his bed; sleeping or trying to formulate a decent text to Liam, but when his hundredth attempt started with “Hey babe…” he decided to give up.

Tonight he had thought he would go out for a casual walk (and trying to tell himself that he didn’t already know that he would lead himself to Liam’s house) and he had walked for over an hour before he finally found himself in the dark yard that belonged to the Payne family. The house looked really nice, but Niall wanted to see what the inside looked like. And he was  _dying_ to see Liam.

He sneaked around in the bushes surrounding the house as quietly as he could – trying to catch a glimpse of Liam in one of the illuminated windows.

He got to the front of the yard and could spot Liam, his parents and his sisters around the dinner table. They were eating, talking and laughing together. He watched affectionately how Liam barely could keep the food in his mouth as he laughed at something his father had said, and butterflies were having a party in his stomach.

Niall instantly wished he was by Liam’s side, wrapped up in the warm and cozy family atmosphere.

 

“Ey, aren’t you Niall Horan?!” a shout came from behind him. He turned around and saw three guys on the street; one of them was very tall. That’s all that Niall had time to register before one of the shorter guys (still taller than him though) step forward as a silent threat.

 

“I am, who are you?” he asked and glanced between the three boys.

 

“You remember Annie,  _right?_  Well, I’m her brother…  _I am_  the one who had to clean up your mess and listen to her tears that flooded for  _months_  after you used her as your own personal toy!”

 

Niall gulped. He remembered, alright… “Uh… let’s talk about this…” Niall said as the trio stepped closer and Niall took a step back. One of the boys that weren’t Annie’s brother suddenly stomped up to Niall and grabbed him by his collar and kneed him in the crotch. He let out a yelp and bent over slightly, hands covering his “treasures”.

 

“Hey, look, I’m sorry…” he started but was cut off by a fist colliding with his jaw. More blows were directed at his face, one that hurt especially was the one that hit his nose, making a crushing sound.

 

He could see a dark liquid staining the crystal snow, and he knew that it was his blood that was seeping from his nose and mouth.

 

“Please stop!” he begged for what felt like the millionth time, hot tears streaming down his face and mixing with his blood.

 

“I’m so sorry!” he cried from the ground as a kick hit his stomach. Annie’s brother yanked him up from the ground by his hair, leaving trails of his own blood in his blond locks. He ripped Niall’s jacket open, Niall was sure some buttons loosened.

 

“This shirt looks pretty new, doesn’t it?” he asked his friends, who agreed. It actually was new, a Christmas present actually. He loved it! “Well, that’s too bad!” Annie’s brother sneered before he ripped it apart, destroying it completely.

 

“Oi, look, we got ourselves a fattie!” the tall guy mocked and gripped the thin layer of extra fat at Niall’s tummy. He clawed at it, scratching his nails along it.

 

“That’s disgusting!” the other friend said and Annie’s brother threw him down into the cold snow.

 

“I’m not fat!” Niall said, choking on his own blood and immediately alerting them about his insecurity.

 

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that…” the short friend laughed and kicked him in the head.

 

“Maybe we should get some of that off, eh?” Annie’s brother said and pulled out a butterfly knife from his pocket. Niall’s eyes widened as much as they could in their swollen state.

 

“N-no, no, pl-please…” he stuttered.

 

“What is going on?!” an angry voice sounded suddenly. Niall’s mouth smiled automatically, he would recognize that voice anywhere.

 

“Stay out of this, Payne. This wanker hurt my sister’s feelings” Annie’s brother explained.

 

“Well,  _this wanker_  happens to be my friend, so let go of him!” Liam commanded with a strong voice.

 

The trio took a step back, but still protested; “Didn’t you hear me? He hurt my sister…”

 

“I don’t give a shit about your sister!” Liam cut him off and took a warningly step forward. “Now get out of here before I call the police!”

 

“Come on, let’s go…” The tall one pulled Annie’s brother away by the arm. He gave Niall and Liam one last glare before he turned around and walked away with his friends.

 

Liam wasted no time and kneeled down beside Niall.

“Oh my God, Niall, are you okay? What am I saying; of course you’re not okay…”

 

“Li?” Niall breathed out, cutting off Liam’s small ramble.

 

“Yes?”

 

“How did you know that it was the nick of time for you to come out?”

 

“I… I was taking out the garbage” Liam said and smiled as Niall chuckled lightly. “Let’s get you inside…” Liam pulled Niall to his feet, then he supported him with one arm around Niall’s waist and one holding Niall’s arm around his own shoulders.

 

It took a few minutes to get to the door; they even had to stop to let Niall spit out a mouthful of his own blood at one point. When they got inside they were met by a shout of surprise and a few ‘oh my God’s. Liam’s whole family stared at the beaten boy, dripping with blood, that was hanging in Liam’s arms like a rag doll. This wasn’t how Niall expected his first meeting with Liam’s parents to be.

 

“What happened? Who is this?” Liam’s dad spoke up.

 

“This is my friend Niall, he was being beaten up just outside.”

 

“Do we need to get him to a hospital?” his mother asked, worried.

 

“What do you say, Niall?” Liam turned his eyes to Niall’s broken face.

 

“No, I feel alright… I mean, not alright, but nothing feels really wrong, nothing inside feels broken or busted or something.” he said after a moment. Liam’s mom started to boil some water while her son started to lead Niall up the stairs to the bathroom.

 

He placed Niall on the toilet before he started to search the cabinets for the first aid and a clean towel. He found it and ran down the stairs to get the now sterile water.

 

When he re-entered the bathroom he closed the door after him and placed himself in front of Niall. He dipped the towel in the water and started to wipe the blood away from Niall’s face. The Irishman hissed in pain.

 

“I’m sorry” he said, but made no stop in his movements.

 

“It’s fine…” Niall mumbled and glanced up at Liam’s concentrated face. “How bad is it? Is my nose broken?” he asked anxiously. Liam was quiet for some moments as he examined Niall’s face.

 

“Your nose is okay. Your lip is split, and you got a cut on your eyebrow. You’re going to get a black eye and probably a swollen face.” As he spoke he put some wad of cotton in Niall’s nose. ”Any loose teeth?” he asked and Niall quickly slide his tongue over each one of his teeth, then shook his head. Liam put a band-aid over the cut in Niall’s eyebrow.

 

“You’re good at this, have you ever thought about being a doctor or something?” Niall asked curiously. Liam chuckled slightly.

 

“No, I don’t think so.” It was a silent moment before Niall decided to speak up again.

 

“Thank you, for saving me. You’re my… hero, or something” Niall managed to blush despite his blood loss.

 

“It’s not a big deal” Liam shrugged.

 

“Yes, it is. You saved my life. He… he had a knife”

 

“ _What?!_ ” Liam gasped; the angry tone back in his voice. He pulled away vaguely to stare at Niall.

 

“He said he was going to…“ Niall pointed at his exposed stomach, unable to form the words.

 

Liam quickly slid down on his knees and looked at the scratches on the pale, soft skin. He grabbed the towel and started to stroke the scratches carefully.

 

“Liam, it’s not bleeding…” Niall muttered, but Liam just shook his head.

 

“Doesn’t matter. They are insane. We should report them or something.”

 

“We’ll see about that later. At least we know it’s Annie’s brother.”

 

“We should kill Annie.”

 

“What the fuck Liam?” Niall asked in a sleepy voice. He was getting tired.

 

“I just… shit” Liam blinked away the tears in his eyes before Niall could see them.

 

Niall grabbed Liam’s hands to stop them from tending his scratches.

“Liam, I didn’t deserve  _this_  in any sort of way, but I was a complete asshole when it came to Annie. I knew she had feelings for me and I played on that to get what I wanted, I used her only to throw her away…. I was a real jerk before, but not anymore… when I’m with you, I want to be better, I want to change. I want to treat people right and not use them. You make me want to be a better person, Liam, and I am so grateful for that.”

 

Liam glanced up at Niall. Blue eyes met brown ones; a look of sheer adoration was shared between the two.

 

“Just the thought of me being too late almost make me cry.” Liam said quietly with a small and unsure smile. He stood up, but otherwise didn’t move from his place in front of Niall.

 

“But you weren’t too late” Niall smiled and Liam spotted a small drop of blood on his lower lip. “You are like my guardian angel” Niall said softly and closed his eyes, but gasped slightly as Liam used his thumb to swipe the little crimson droplet away from his lips.

 

“Why do you always refer to me as an angel?” Liam asked, but didn’t take his eyes off Niall’s lips. He started to trace Niall’s lips with his fingertips, and as he traced his upper lip, Niall couldn’t help but let out an almost unhearable whimper because the touch was so, so  _gentle._

“Because,” Niall breathed out, “ _that’s how I see you_ ” Niall opened his eyes at the same time as Liam looked up from Niall’s lips. Their gaze locked and they stared into each others eyes a second before Liam took his hands off of Niall’s face and backed away awkwardly.

 

“Right, you must be cold. Your shirt is ripped and all…” Liam pointed out.

 

“Yeah… it was a Christmas present…” Niall felt the need of letting Liam know that he had liked this shirt. “I really liked it.”

 

“I’m sorry, man. You could borrow one of my shirts if you want, I’ll get one for you.” Liam said and disappeared out of the bathroom for a moment before he came back with a red plaid shirt and got out of the room so Niall could change without an audience.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Logic. He was dressed in logic. Well, not really, he was dressed in Liam’s shirt, but he thought about Liam every time the word  _logic_  popped up around him in a book or a conversation or everywhere. Because Liam was pretty logic, wasn’t he? When he was unsure about his feelings he had his friends consult him, because  _that was the logical thing to do_. When he wasn’t in love with his girlfriend anymore he broke up with her, because  _that was the logical thing to do_. When his friend got manhandled outside of his house he saved him, because  _that was the logical thing to do._  What did Niall do? He tricked one of his (now) best friends into believing he was a girl so that he would fall for him… right, not as logical.

 

Niall looked in the mirror. Even though Liam’s shirt was a little too big for him, he thought that it fitted perfectly, but it might have to do with the fact that it was  _Liam’s_ shirt. Niall stuck his nose into the soft fabric, trying to catch some of that gorgeous scent that Liam always had and that Niall  _loved_ , but due to all the cotton stuffed into his nose he couldn’t really smell anything. He looked up in the mirror again and now that he wasn’t keeping his attention at the shirt, he could focus on his face… and… Good Lord, he looked like shit! Some bruises were already showing and a black eye was beginning to form, but it would probably be much worse in the morning. His lip was slit and swollen and he knew that the band aid on his eyebrow hid a cut, but dear God! His nose! Packed with all cotton, some of it sticking out of his nostrils, he looked like a… like a…

“Duuuuude…” Niall said, sticking his head out the door.

“What?” Liam asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

“Why didn’t you tell me that I look like a snail?” Niall asked and pointed at his nose. Liam chuckled and took a step forward so he could reach to pat Niall’s hair. Niall decided that it felt nice. Then Liam pulled his hand away with a sudden widen of his eyes.

“You got blood in your hair!” he pointed out, but Niall just shrugged.

“Does that make me a ginger?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood. It worked.

“Shut up.” Liam said with a grin. “Ready to go home? Dad will drive us.”

“Us?” Niall furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Did you think I would let you suffer through the awkwardness of going alone with my dad?” Liam asked with a raised eyebrow. Niall didn’t answer; instead he put on his jacket and picked up his shred shirt, deciding to keep it.

 

Liam’s dad started the engine as Liam and Niall climbed into the backseat.

“What were you even doing in this neighborhood anyway?” Liam asked as the car started to move.

“I was out for a walk…” Niall muttered, hoping that Liam wouldn’t hear him. No such luck.

“What?! You  _walked_ here? From your house? How long did that take you?”

“An hour, maybe a little more.”

“Why?” Liam was sure that there had to be a reason for someone to walk for that long.

“I needed to… uh… clear my head…” Niall explained in a low voice, and Liam understood that he didn’t want to elaborate his answer.

“Isn’t your mom going to be worried?” Liam asked instead. Niall snorted.

“I think you cover that part perfectly.” Liam’s father chuckled amused at the comment.

“Seriously” Liam said and Niall sighed.

“I told her I was going to Harry’s” he shrugged.

They were quiet for a moment until Niall shivered slightly.

“Wow, it’s really freezing” he said, just to have anything to say, but was mildly surprised when Liam wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. Niall tried to nuzzle his head into Liam’s chest, but bumped his sore nose.

“Ouch” he said and pulled back.

“How does your nose feel?” Liam asked.

“Broken…” Niall mumbled.

“Niall, it’s not broken.”

“I know, but it still  _feels_  broken!” he complained and Liam sighed.

“I’m tiiiired…” Niall whined.

“Then sleep a little. I wake you up when we’re at your house.”

“But-“ Niall started to protest, but Liam cut him off by using his free hand to push Niall’s face into the crook of his neck.

“Just sleep…” he said softly and he heard Niall agreeing with a hum.

He could feel Niall’s warm breath caressing his skin, feel his hair tickling his earlobe, hear his breathing turning steady and even. He stroked Niall’s hair carefully, so concentrated on the boy beside him that he failed to see the query glance his father shot them through the rearview mirror.

Liam broke the silence by giving his dad directions to Niall’s house. He woke Niall up when they stopped in front of his home.

“Okay, I’ll help him to the door and explain the situation to Mrs. Horan; it should only take a few minutes.” Liam said to his father as he and Niall crawled out of the car.

“Thanks for the ride Mr. Payne!” Niall shouted before Liam closed the door behind them.

When they reached the door Niall turned to Liam.

“It’s okay, I think I can explain the situation to mom myself, you shouldn’t keep your dad waiting.”

“You sure?” Liam asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Thanks for everything Li.” Niall gave him a quick hug.

“Okay, uh, see you in school, I guess… Text me?” Liam asked as he started to back away.

“Okay” Niall nodded before he opened the door and stepped into his house. As the door closed behind Niall, Liam quickly made his way to the car and jumped into the passenger seat.

 

When they had been driving for a few minutes, his father broke the silence.

“Is there something you would like to tell me, son?” he asked and Liam furrowed his eyebrows.

“Not that I can think of, no.” he answered after a minute.

“So you cuddle with all your friends like that?” His dad asked and Liam flushed red.

“ _No_ , but Niall is just a little bit more cuddly than most of my friends.”

“Right”

“Would you have a problem with me being gay?”

“Are you?” His farther gave him a curious look.

“No” Liam said, but he felt like he was lying, because he did indeed have a crush on Niall. But that didn’t make him gay, right?

“Then we don’t need to discuss this” His father turned his eyes to the road again.

“Louis is gay” Liam muttered and turned his head to look out the window.

“Well, are you Louis?”

“No, but-“

“Then it’s irrelevant.”

“Why won’t you talk about this?” Liam asked.

“Because we don’t need to” his father answered simply and Liam knew that nothing good would come from pushing this conversation.

 

The rest of the drive was silent, and when he got home Liam sent a kik to Nina;

“Did you get your phone back yet? :)”

But he didn’t get an answer until late next morning;

 _Blondie Lep_ : _“yes, last night, but despite what you might think, people in Ireland actually do sleep ;)”_


	11. Chapter 11

Liam wasn’t popular, but people still knew who he was. He was known for being kind and fair, for being engaged in his school work, for being friends with  _“that gay dude”_  AKA Louis, for dating one of the more coveted girls in school and of course for breaking up with her. Recently, he had become known for being Niall’s friend. He was actually a little bit proud that Popular Niall wanted to be his friend, but he would never admit that.

 

But by the end of the day, Liam would be known for something else…

 

When school started again, Liam went straight to Niall’s locker.

 

Harry and Zayn were already there, and Louis was walking right behind him.

 

“Hey Niall, how are you doing?” He asked as soon as Niall turned around. He knew for a fact that the other boys knew what had happened and they had told him that Niall’s injuries had gotten better, but he wanted to see for himself.

 

“I’m fine.” Niall said sincerely, but Liam decided to examine Niall’s face anyway.

 

“Let me see.” he demanded and Niall lifted his head up so Liam could inspect his face.

 

His black eye was still clearly visible while the rest of the bruises had faded to a subtle shade of yellow. His lip had healed nicely, you could barely see that it had been split at all, but the cut over his eyebrow had risk of scarring.

 

“Looking good.” Liam smiled.

 

“Oh, thanks sir” Niall said with a wink. 

He then turned to his locker again, but was stopped mid-movement by Liam calling out a “Wait!”

 

“What?” he asked.

 

Liam gripped his face and tilted his head upwards.

 

“You got an eyelash…” he trailed off as he gently brushed away the eyelash from Niall’s face with his fingers.

 

“Um… thanks…” Niall murmured and blushed.

 

Louis, Zayn and Harry gave each other knowing looks and tried to suppress their amused grins, because seriously, could Liam and Niall be more obvious?

 

“So, how was your New Year?” Niall asked while he tried to fight off his blush.

 

“It was fine, and from what I’ve heard,” Liam glanced at Louis, “yours was pretty good as well. Got any New Years resolution?” he asked with a sweet smile.

 

“Uh…” Niall’s blush was immediately back and he looked down at his shoes. “Not really…”

 

Liam was just about to press the truth out of Niall, when a bunch of girls let out a devastated squeal:

“Oh my gosh! Niall, what happened?!”

 

This gained the attention of a lot of people (mostly Niall’s ‘fangirls’) and soon he had a small crowd around him.

 

“Uh… well, there were some guys that beat me up.”

 

_“Why?!”_

_“Oh my god, what did they do?!”_

_“Are you seriously hurt?!”_

_“Who did it?!”_

_“When did this happened?!”_

_“How many were they?!”_

Okay, Niall was used to a little attention, but this was just ridiculous.

 

“They were three, I was alone. I’m not seriously hurt, but I could’ve been, because they were going to cut me, they had a knife and all…”

 

The crowd gasped.

 

_“How did you get away?”_

Niall started to smile when that question came up.

 

“Liam here,” he said and put an arm around Liam’s shoulder, “saved me. If it weren’t for him I might have died. He scared them off and then he helped me with my injuries.”

 

Suddenly Liam was bombarded with questions and everyone could see how awkward he was with all the attention. Niall suddenly spotted Annie and sneaked off.

 

“Hey Annie.” He said and she turned around with a desperate look on her face.

 

“Niall, I’m sorry, I didn’t know! Please don’t report him, he got anger issues and he’s already been to jail and he’s so young and he don’t know what he’s doing! I’m so, so,  _so_  sorry!”

 

“Annie, I’m sorry for the way I treated you when we were… ‘together’, I hope you can forgive me.” Annie stared dumbfounded at him. “And as for your brother, I won’t report him, but I will not hesitate if this happens again. Tell him that, because,” Niall glanced over at Liam who was still surrounded by a crowd that wanted to hear his side of the story, “I’m planning on hanging around in that neighbourhood  _a lot more_.”

 

“O-okay! Thank you!” She then turned and walked away. Niall hurried back to his locker, which he absentmindedly had left open, just as the bell rang. Luckily Zayn and Harry still stood by his locker, almost as if they were watching it. Louis and Liam were gone tho.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Just admit it!”

 

“No, there’s nothing to admit, Lou.”

 

“You  _like_ him, Liam. Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you.” (A/N: see what I did there? ;P)

 

“It’s not like that.” Liam sighed and collected his books, preparing to leave his first lesson. “And by the way, I really like Nina. I mean  _really_ like her.”

 

“But you don’t even know what she looks like!” Louis wailed.

 

“Looks aren’t everything, Louis. Do you date Harry just because he’s hot?”

 

“Of course not, but that’s what caught my attention at first. The outside gives the inside a chance.”

 

“But the inside gives the outside a shine.” Liam smiled and walked out of the classroom with Louis in tow.

 

They were utterly surprised by the round of applause that started the second Liam stepped outside of the door.

 

“What is this all about?” Liam asked Louis, who shrugged. A boy walked up to them and put his hand on Liam’s shoulder.

 

“Well done, Payne.” Then he walked off. Liam furrowed his eyebrows slightly. But he understood what was going on as soon as the questions started.

 

_“How did you know Niall was in trouble?”_

_“Did they really have a knife?”_

_“Who were they?”_

_“Did you call the police?”_

_“Did you fight them off on your own?”_

_“Is it true that you know karate?”_

Liam just gaped at the crowd and Louis shook his head in disbelief.

 

That day, Liam became known for saving Niall’s life.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“No, no, no, no, no… NO!” Liam screamed, but Niall just laughed.

 

“I own you, man.” He cheered. They were playing videogames at Niall’s, and Liam had just lost – big time.

 

“Damn the Irish people!” Liam shouted, but it just made Niall laugh more.

 

“That might not be the best thing to shout in an Irish household, bonehead.” Niall pointed out and now it was Liam’s turn to laugh. He put his controller down, as a sign that he wanted a small break from the game. Niall did the same.

 

“Uh… Niall?”

 

“What?”

 

“Have you ever been in love?” Liam looked over at the blonde awkwardly, but was met by a soft smile.

 

“Yeah…” More smiling. Liam understood that he probably thought about his beloved; his expression was almost dreamy.

 

“Well, how did you know? That you were in love, that is.” Liam actually felt awkward asking about this, because he had been in love with Danielle, but that had been different. They had got together when they were just a tad bit interested, but had grown to love each other.

 

“I can’t stop thinking about him.” Niall cleared his throat awkwardly. “ _Her_. I can’t stop thinking about  _her._ ”

 

Liam knew that if it had been Harry, Zayn or Louis that heard Niall’s small slip of the tongue, they would never let him live it down. But, being the good friend he was, Liam let it go.

 

“Right.” he nodded and smiled.

 

“JAMIE!” Bobby suddenly called from the kitchen.

 

“WHAT?” Niall screamed back.

 

“CAN YOU HELP ME WITH A FEW THINGS?” Bobby screamed back.

 

“I’ll be back in a minute.” Niall assured Liam before he disappeared. After a few minutes he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

 

_Liam Payne: I just talked with Niall about how you know that you are in love and I’ve come to the conclusion that I am falling for you :) hope you won’t freak out xx_

 Niall smiled at the kik message. He answered immediately:

 

_I feel the same way, Liam :) xx_

Then he returned to Liam with butterflies in his stomach, a warm feeling in his chest and guilt in the back of his mind.


	12. Chapter 12

During the past few months Liam’s life had settled into a routine he was happily keeping: he had three new best friends that he and Louis spent most of their time with, he and Nina were closer than ever (but they had agreed to not call it a relationship yet) and when he wasn’t kiking with Nina, he was texting with some of his other friends. Mostly Niall… scratch that, he was almost solely texting Niall. All the time! He wasn’t even sure who he texted the most; Niall or Nina? He was hanging out with Niall a lot too, mostly at Niall place, since Liam’s parents were painfully embarrassing…

——- Flashback ——-

“Mom, dad, you have already met Niall.” Liam said to his parents who stood in the hall that Niall and Liam had just entered.

“Yes, how are you dear?” Karen, Liam’s mother, asked with concern in her voice.

“I’m fine, sorry about last time.” Niall said and ran a hand through his hair; a sign of embarrassment. While Karen had a little small talk with Niall, Liam’s father, Geoff, just gave him a silent glance.

“Come on” Liam said and started to lead the way up the stairs with Niall following eagerly. Even though Niall had been in Liam’s house before, he had never seen his room.

“Liam?” Geoff called out with a strong voice, making both boys stop in the middle of the stairs.

“Hm?” Liam and Niall turned around to face Geoff.

“Door stays open.” he announces and Niall burst out laughing while Liam flush bright red.

“DAD! Oh my God!” Liam buried his face in his hands to hide his blush that were deepening within the second. “We won’t DO anything!”

“It doesn’t matter. The door stays open.” Geoff was very firm on his point, so Liam just dragged a laughing Niall into his room (and leaving the door open).

“Why are YOU laughing?! You should be offended and embarrassed!” Liam was still blushing furiously.

“Your old man is downstairs thinking that I will have my way with you if we close the door. I’m sorry, but I find that kinda funny. Hilarious even!” Niall grinned and Liam chuckled slightly.

“Okay, maybe it’s a little funny…”

——- Flashback ends ——-

Liam almost blushed at the memory. He thought that his father’s new rule about the door was quite ridiculous, especially since it only applied to Niall’s visits. He didn’t need to keep the door open when Louis was over, and Louis was gay! And his father knew that! … but on the other hand, Liam hadn’t cuddled with Louis in an extremely intimate way in front of his father, like he had with Niall.

Speaking of Niall, he was late. It was a good twenty minutes into maths class, but the blonde wasn’t by Liam’s side. Liam was sitting and humming the tones of ‘first dance’ by nevershoutnever, like he usually did when he thought about the irishman. Niall had actually decided that it was ‘their’ song. Suddenly, Niall barged through the door, gasping for breath. He had clearly been running. After he had stuttered an apology to the teatcher between his panting, he slumped down in the seat beside Liam.

“Morning Payne.” he breathed out.

“Morning.”

“God, I’m so late, I overslept…”

“Let me guess: you pulled on the first clothes you could get your hands on?” Liam asked with a smirk.

“How did you know?!”

“You’re wearing my shirt.” Liam said and nodded towards Niall’s shirt, his smirk growing. Niall looked down and saw that he in fact were wearing the plaid shirt he had borrowed from Liam.

“Oh, I’m sorr-“

“No, it’s okay, I don’t mind.” Liam cut him off. When Niall was wearing his clothes, it felt like he was showing the world that Niall was his. Liam shook his head at that thought; his? Niall wasn’t his, and he didn’t want to make him his… Right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam wasn’t the only one who noticed that Niall was wearing Liam’s shirt. They were sitting in English class, but since they sat across the room from each other, they couldn’t talk so they made funny faces to each other. Niall wiggled his eyebrows, so Liam winked at him. Niall responded by sticking his tongue out, like the mature man he was. Liam was about to pull off a pout when Louis huffed beside him. He turned to his friend.

“What?” he asked, like he didn’t already knew that Louis would accuse him for acting cute and flirting with Niall.

“You two are unbelievably-” he stopped mid-sentence and looked over at Niall with a confused frown. “Is Niall wearing your shirt?!” he asked then, looking back at Liam’s now blushing face.

“Uh… Yeeeeees…” Liam said and dragged out the ‘E’ to sound natural.

“Seriously, you two almost act more like a couple than me and Harreh do!” Louis accused.

“We do not! Don’t act like you and Harry don’t wear each others clothes, you even swap underwear every time you have sex.”

“How the fuck did you know that?!”

“Because you told me, dumbass!”

“Oh…” Louis finally looked a bit embarrassed. “Well, we have a legit explanation for that: we are a couple. You and Horan over there, on the other hand, doesn’t have a valid excuse for wearing each others clothes or text as much as you two do or cuddle in the backseat of your car.” Liam gaped at him.

“H-how did you know about the cuddling?” He stuttered.

“I met your dad at the grocery store and he asked me about you and Niall, so I told him the truth; that Niall takes you out on homoerotic adventures.” During his little speech, Louis tried to not crack up with laughter, but he did. “Okay, I lied, Niall told me.” he then said and winked at Liam.

“He did?”

“Yup.” Louis refused to say anything else on the matter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Am I the only one who noticed that Niall have been working out?” Zayn asked out of the blue one day, as the four friends gazed over at their fifth pal, who was chatting up some girls.

“No, I’ve been noticing too… Not that I have been looking or anything,” Harry glanced assuringly at Louis, who smiled back. “but I couldn’t help but see the beginning of a six-pack in the showers after P.E.”

“Six-pack? Wow…” Liam let out, but corrected himself quickly; “I mean, that’s good work.”

“But he never worked out before, did he? He have been at the gym a lot lately.” Louis looked at Niall. “I wonder what’s gotten into him…”

“Oh my God!” Liam suddenly gasped.

“What?”

“The guys who attacked him, they called him fat! You don’t think he took the words to heart, do you?”

“Sounds like it.” Zayn sighed. They were quiet for a moment until Louis snapped his fingers.

“Follow my lead.” he said and started to walk up to Niall.

“Hey hottie!” Louis yelled, and Niall hesitantly looked at him. “Yeah, Horan, I’m talking about you!” The four of them walked up to the Irishman and the girls he had been talking to subtly backed away.

“You, my friend, is stunning.” Louis said and then nudged Harry in the side so he would continue.

“Wha-oh yeah… Uh, you look great.” He mumbled.

“You’re hot!” Liam insisted and Niall blushed slightly.

“You are absolutely beautiful, just the way you are. Completely and utterly beautiful.” Zayn said with so much feeling in his voice that no one would be surprised if he got to his knees and proposed to Niall. The four of them shot Zayn a weird look. “What?” he asked, but they only shook their heads.

“Uh… Thanks?” Niall said after a moment of silence.

“We know what those guys said to you, but you shouldn’t worry about what they say, because they are assholes.” Harry said and Louis nodded in agreement.

“Wait, this was you New Years Resolution, wasn’t it? To lose weight?” Liam asked, something suddenly clicked in his brain. Niall nodded. “You don’t need to, you already look really good.” Liam assured him, and Niall smiled.

“Well, thanks, but I kind of starting to like to work out every now and then.”

“That’s great! And healthy! Uh… Maybe we could meet up at the gym sometime?” Liam suggested.

“Yeah, sure.” Niall shrugged, but an eager smile found its way to his lips and removed every trace of casualty.

Suddenly Liam’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out.

-1 new message(s) from LouLou-

“Meeting up at the gym hm? You only want to get him into the steam sauna ;)”

Liam knew that the message was somewhat true. He had actually had some thoughts about Niall he wasn’t too proud of. It was so weird, because even if he was sure he was some sort of in love with Nina, he always felt like he was more interested in Niall. And that wasn’t something he wanted to feel. Whenever he was with Niall, he thought that Nina could go and screw herself. He always kiked her after a thought like that, the guilt eating him alive. He was supposed to be in love with her, not Niall. But something about Niall was special. Sometimes he made Liam feel like he was hosting a party for butterflies in his tummy, but other times he just made a warm feeling settle in his chest. Being with Niall felt natural, like breathing. And it was terrifying.


	13. Chapter 13

“Don’t you think it’s a bit weird that we’re singing ‘amazing grace’?” Harry asked Liam while they walked out of the music room and made their way to the cafeteria.

 

“I don’t know, what do you mean?”

 

“I mean, it’s a Christian song, and nothing against them, but not everyone in this school is Christian. Zayn, for example, is a Muslim.”

 

“I see what you’re getting at, but it’s a tradition. And no one has complained so far, right?”

 

“Yeah, I was just thinking…”

 

Harry and Liam had joined the school choir, and Liam had discovered that Harry was an amazing singer. He had tried to talk Niall into join too, but he wasn’t keen on it.

 

Louis grinned widely as they joined him, Niall and Zayn at their lunch table.

 

“How was choir babe?” he asked Harry as soon as he sat down.

 

“Good, how was drama?” he shot back.

 

“Great!”

 

“Drama?” Niall asked with a snort.

 

“Yes, it’s his hidden talent.” Liam said with a smirk and Niall chuckled slightly.

 

“What’s your hidden talent then, Niall?” Louis asked; a bit irritated at the blonde.

 

Liam took a sip of his water and considered telling the rest of the group about Niall’s music skills.

 

“He can deep throat.” Zayn announced and Liam choked on his water. He started to cough and Niall beat his back repeatedly to help him.

 

Louis stared at Zayn, then at Niall, and then at Zayn again.

 

“Are you two…?” he asked and motioned between them with his right hand.

 

“No! God, no!” Niall screeched.

 

“Absolutely not!” Zayn assured before he explained the whole banana ordeal.

 

Liam was finally calming down from his coughing attack, and decided to change the topic.

 

“Nialler is actually really good at singing and playing guitar.” he said with a breathy voice.

 

“Oh, I didn’t know that,  _Nialler_ …” Louis said with a smirk, raising his eyebrow towards a blushing Liam. He hadn’t planned on letting the others hear about his little nickname for the Irishman.

 

“Louis is quite the singer himself.” Zayn suddenly let out.

 

“You haven’t heard me sing, Zayn.” Louis pointed out, but Zayn just chuckled.

 

“If you think I didn’t hear your concert in the shower this morning, you have to be stupid.”

 

Louis blushed slightly, while Harry turned to stare at him.

 

“What is he talking about Lou?” he asked; jealousy clear in his voice.

 

“I slept over at Zayn’s and I sang in the shower, I guess?” he explained, but Harry didn’t seem happier.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me that you slept at his place?” his tone was almost accusing.

 

“What, does it bother you?” Louis asked in a mocking tone.

 

“… Maybe…” Harry turned his gaze from Louis to his lap. A soft smile spread over Louis’ face. He wrapped his arms around Harry and gave him a tight hug and a quick kiss.

 

“Okay. I’ll tell you next time, alright?”

 

Harry responded with a passionate kiss.

 

“Get a room!” Niall said and covered his eyes with his hands.

 

“Shut up,  _Nialler_!” Louis shot back, and Liam felt his cheeks heat up again at the mention of the nickname.

 

“Shut up yourself,  _Boo bear_ ” Niall countered and Louis gasped.

 

“ _Harreh!_ ” he shouted accusingly and hit his boyfriend in the chest.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to tell them, it just happened!” he defended himself, but Louis just growled as an answer.

 

Their conversation was cut by the ring of a bell.

 

“Time for class” Liam said and stood up, Louis following his lead.

 

“History, right?” Lou asked with a sigh. Liam didn’t answer, because he knew that Louis knew they had History. “See you later lads!” he call back to their three friends before they left.

 

As soon as they were outside, Louis nudged Liam in the side.

 

“Nialler can deep throat, eh?” he winked and Liam groaned. That piece of information wouldn’t help him push away some  _disturbing_  thoughts about the blonde.

 

~~~  ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

Niall sank into the hot water in his bathtub with a sigh. He really needed to relax, and how do you relax better than taking a long, warm bath? Well, that’s at least what Zayn says all the time. Sometimes Niall was sure that Zayn lived in the bathtub. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath then he put his head underwater. It’s nice, warm and soft. He felt his hair sway around him and all the sounds near him were dulled by the water. If it wasn’t for the obvious need for oxygen, he could probably fall asleep under the water. The low sound of his ringtone brought him up to the surface again. He gasped for breath – how long had he been under there? – before he reached for a towel and dried his hands off before he picked up his phone that had been placed on a pile of his clothes beside the tub.

 

“Hello?” he gasped.

 

 _“Err… hi, it’s Liam.”_ Liam said and Niall rolled his eyes, because honestly; did Liam think he wouldn’t recognize his voice? They had talked over the phone multiple times over the last couple of months, and Liam always said ‘hi, it’s Liam’.

 

“I know.” Niall said; this was his usual line.

 

_“Am I disturbing you?”_

 

“Seriously Liam, how many times do I have to tell you that you’re not disturbing?”

 

_“Well, you never know…”_

“I’ve told you, a  _thousand_  times, that if you’re disturbing enough that I have to hang up, I wouldn’t even pick up in the first place.”

 

_“Yeah…”_

“So, why did you call?”

 

_“Um… I was wondering if you wanted to come over and watch a movie… you know, we said we were going to watch ‘Veronika decides to die’ and I just downloaded it.”_

“Yeah, sure, that would be great! What time?”

 

_“Around eight maybe?”_

“Works for me.”

 

_“Okay, I’ll see you- what’s that noise?”_

“What noise?”

 

_“That splashing noise, it sounds like water or something.”_

“Oh, I’m in the bathtub.”

 

_“In the bathtub? Really? You got your phone with you in the bathtub?”_

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

 

_“What if you drop it in the water?”_

“I’m careful.”

 

It was silent for a moment.

 

 _“… Are you naked?”_ Liam asked and Niall let out a small laugh.

 

“I don’t know about you, but yes, I’m usually naked when I’m taking a bath. Why?”

 

_“Uh… to be honest I don’t know why I asked that… let’s change the subject!”_

“Alright… uh… I was at the dentist today after school.”

 

 _“Did you have any cavities?”_ Liam’s tone was slightly teasing.

 

“No, but I’m finally getting braces.”

 

_“Really? Congratulations!”_

“Thank you, Mr Payne. But now, if I’m ever going to be done with this bath I have to hang up.”

 

_“Yeah, okay, see you around eight?”_

“’Course. Bye!”

 

_“Bye.”_

Niall put his phone back on the pile of clothes and put a shirt over it in case he would spill any water. He was going to watch a movie with Liam: he could already feel the butterflies waking up in his stomach.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

Liam was quite positive to the fact that he wanted to shoot himself. Because he had seriously asked Niall if he was naked while talking to him over the phone. He hadn’t been able to stop the words that flew out of his mouth. He groaned. Why did he embarrass himself in front of Niall all the time? Was that some weird rule the universe had; that you always had to embarrass yourself in front of the person you like? It seemed like the only thing Liam had accomplished during the past months was to be awkward and lame and embarrassing. He rolled his eyes at the thought and glanced at the time on his phone. 19:43, Niall should be here soon. He was a bit surprised to see his phone light up with a new Kik-message from Nina:

 

Blondie Lep: tell me something random :)

 

Liam Payne: like what?

 

Blondie Lep: something no one else knows

 

Liam thought for a moment. His friends knew almost everything about him… well; there was one thing that not even Louis knew.

 

Liam Payne: I love Toy Story, it’s my favourite movie ever <3 no one but you knows tho :*

 

Blondie Lep: hahaha, that’s so cute :3

 

Liam decided to not respond. He didn’t know why, but he suspected it had something to do with Niall arriving any minute now. He didn’t want to be caught up in a conversation with Nina when he was here. Right then the doorbell rang. Liam ran down the stairs to answer the door before his parents did.

 

When they went inside of Liam’s room, he decided to ditch his father’s door-rule and closed it. Niall looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

 

“You’re closing the door? Are you coming on to me?” he teased and Liam blushed slightly.

 

“Well, who knows? So, are you ready to watch a sad suicide movie?”

 

“Let’s get to it!” They sat down in Liam’s bed, and Liam was quite happy that he had a TV in his room. He wanted to keep Niall away from his family, or they would just embarrass him further.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

“It was good.” Niall said when the credits started to roll and leaned back in Liam’s bed. Liam followed suit after he turned the TV off and placed the remote by their feet. Usually he would put the remote on his bedside table, but since he was trapped between the wall and Niall he didn’t want to awkwardly lean over the blonde boy to reach it.

 

“I mean, it was good, but not as good as the book. It was more feelings in the book, you understand Veronika more.” Niall analysed and Liam hummed to show that he agreed.

 

They lay there beside each other and stared at the ceiling. They lay there for a long time; sometimes in a comfortable silence, sometimes talking.

 

“- so I won the bet, and told Harry; ‘now you have to shave your head’ but he was so damn obsessed with his curls, still are, so he said that he would give me forty pounds instead. I said yes of course; I needed money to buy Greg a birthday present-“

 

“Wait, who’s Greg?” Liam interrupted Niall’s story about a pretty silly bet he and Harry had some years ago. Niall turned his head and stared at Liam.

 

“Are you serious? Greg is my brother!”

 

“Brother? I always thought you were the only child.”

 

“I’m not.”

 

“Yeah, I get that… but, how come I’ve never met him?”

 

Niall let out a sad sigh and Liam turned to his side so he could look at his friend. Niall turned too, so they were facing each other.

 

“He went away to some country far away to do some volunteer work. I can’t even remember the name of the country… They don’t have a lot of communication over there so we don’t have much contact with him, mostly emails and postcards and a phone call every now and then… and I miss him – a lot.” Liam looked into Niall’s deep blue eyes and saw the slight sadness in them.

 

“When will he be back?”

 

“He left last year, just before the summer and said he would be gone for a year, so he should be back in a month or two.” Niall eyes lit up with happiness.

 

Liam suddenly realized how close they were, facing each other on his small bed. But he didn’t freak out, because it felt natural to be so close to Niall.

 

“This is very intimate.” Liam mumbles.

 

“I don’t mind…” Niall whispered with a small smile.

 

Liam smiled back, then he leaned forward and placed a wet kiss on Niall’s cheek. He quickly drew back to see Niall’s reaction, but before he caught any sort of emotion from him, Niall’s phone started to ring.

 

“Hello?” he answered before he stood up. “Now?” While he spoke, Liam felt lame lying alone in the bed so he stood up as well. “Okay, I’ll be right down.” Niall hung up and turned to Liam. “My dad’s outside, waiting to pick me up. See you tomorrow at school?”

 

“Sure… do you want me to follow you to the door?”

 

“Nah, it’s fine. I had an awesome time tonight though, let’s do it again some time.” Niall flashed him a big smile before he disappeared out of Liam’s room.

 

As soon as he heard the front door close, Liam sat down on his bed and put his face in his hands. What had he done? Niall didn’t seem to take it badly, but he wasn’t even sure about his own feelings or what he wanted or what he should do… he was just so  _confused._  He picked up his phone and considered calling Niall, but he knew he didn’t want this conversation while Niall was in his car with his dad, so he called Louis instead.

 

 _“What’s up Liam?”_ Louis answered.

 

“I need to talk to you.”

 

_“Okay, shoot.”_

“Niall was over to watch a movie and afterwards we were laying in my bed and talking and I kissed him.” Liam rambled in one breath and he would be surprised if Louis had caught anything at all. He had though.

 

 _“You_ kissed  _him?!”_

“Well, yeah, but just on the cheek.”

 

_“And? What happened?”_

“His phone rang and his father was outside; ready to pick him up. He left just a few minutes ago.”

 

_“What – no reaction at all?”_

“Like I said, his phone rang like a second after it happened.”

 

_“And he didn’t say anything?”_

“No, but he didn’t seem mad; he smiled and said he had an awesome time and that he would see me at school tomorrow… do you think I should call him?”

 

_“No, give him some time and space… Talk to him tomorrow at school.”_

“Okay.”

 

_“So you really do like him, huh?”_

“I don’t know; I guess…”

 

_“See! That’s what I’ve been telling you all along!”_

“But I’m not sure what I want or anything.”

 

_“Well, you should take the time until tomorrow to think about that… or you can tell Niall that you need some time, don’t rush into anything you aren’t sure about.”_

“Finally you say something wise.”

 

_“Shut up!”_

“Well, I have some thinking to do, see you tomorrow?”

 

_“Of course… and Liam? Everything will work out, okay?_

“Okay” Liam smiled and hung up. Louis really was a great friend. He decided to go to bed right away, because he did in fact have a lot to think about.

 


	14. Chapter 14

“Good morning Niall.”

“I want to talk about yesterday.”

“About the… kiss.”

“I like you more than a friend… But I’m not sure about anything more than that, so maybe we could take it slowly?”

Liam sighed and put his head against the mirror. He took a deep breath, straightened up and started again.

“Hey Niall, what’s up?”

His reflection stared back at him.

“Oh, I was also thinking about last night… Do you want to talk about it?”

He shook his head and sat down on the toilet lid. Seriously, practicing in front of the mirror? Worst advice Google had ever given him!

“Maybe something more impulsive…” he mumbled to himself and stood up. He quickly walked close to the mirror and smashed his lips against the smooth surface. He pretended that he was kissing Niall instead of his own reflection and imagined his reaction. He backed away from the mirror.

“No, that’s stupid…” with those words he exited the bathroom and made his way downstairs. He began to put on his jacket and a scarf.

“Liam, did you kiss the mirror?!” his sister called from upstairs when he was tying his shoelaces.

“No!” he yelled back, but before she could point out the evidence he walked out of the door and made his way towards school. It was barely a half an hour walk, but it could be tiring sometimes. Today on the other hand, he was more than happy for the distance because it would give him some more time to think things through.

The sun was caressing his face, but the air was a bit chilly. It was only March after all. Liam took a deep breath - life was good right now, why change and complicate things? Maybe he should just act as if the little kiss never occurred or tell Niall that it was a mistake? No, that would be wrong. And it would be a lie. And why would he lie to Niall when Niall always was so honest with him? That’s something he really liked about Niall; that he was so honest.

When he was about ten minutes away from the school Louis joined him, like he usually did when he had been sleeping at his own house (instead of Harry’s or Zayn’s).

“Hey buddy.” He greeted Liam.

“Good morning.” Liam’s voice was a bit dry from the nervousness that had settled in when he got this close to school, this close to Niall.

“So, how do you feel?”

“Nervous, scared… Excited.” Liam shrugged.

“What are you gonna tell him?” Louis asked, and Liam scratched the back of his head absentmindedly.

“Uh… Something about that I like him but I want to take it slowly… Should I tell him about Nina? Shit… What should I tell Nina?! I told her that I was falling for her!”

Louis furrowed his eyebrows together. “Why on earth did you tell her that?”

“Because I was - I am!” Liam sighed. “I haven’t even thought about this…”

“Why would you even think about that?” Louis asked, his dislike for Nina showing in his voice.

“Because I like her!” Louis sighed and rolled his eyes at Liam’s outburst. “I mean, I like Niall but that doesn’t mean that my feelings for her just disappear.” Liam explained.

“But compare them, Liam!” Louis snapped. He had enough of this Nina-girl who always stood in the way of his matchmaking skills. “You have a nice, beautiful boy right here; are you just going to give him up for a stranger in Ireland who can’t even show her face?! For as long as I have known you, you have always said that honesty is something you appreciate in a partner. Niall is honest, Nina is not. Simple as that.”

Liam thought about this for a moment before he nodded.

“Have you told Harry about this?” He asked instead, since he knew about Louis’ habit of telling his boyfriend everything. Damn, they had grown close the past few months.

“No, I figured Niall probably wanted to call him and Zayn to gush about last night.” Louis said with a wink and a smile that made Liam’s cheeks heat up.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Niall hadn’t called Harry and Zayn. He had went straight to bed when he got home, happy because of that little peck on his cheek. He thought about what he would do about the Nina-situation and decided that ‘she’ would slowly but safely slip out of Liam’s life until Liam forgot about her. It didn’t seem so hard: just to make their conversations boring and not answer so quickly, eventually not answer at all.

Niall walked to school with bouncy steps, he was too exited to walk normally. He was nervous too, of course, especially since he had math first lesson: which meant he would be sitting next to Liam.

Due to his excitement, Niall had left his house extra early which resulted in arriving to school extra early. None of his best friends were there yet, and he didn’t feel like being friendly toward his other friends (he had other things on his mind, you see) so he simply grabbed his math books and sat down in the classroom. Soon enough his phone beeped with a new message.

Harry: Where are you mate?

‘I’m already in the classroom’ he answered. In that moment he, Zayn, Louis and Liam stepped into the room. Liam caught his eye and smiled at him, a smile that he returned. Louis nudged Liam in the side before he went to sit down with Harry and Zayn. Liam made his way to his usual place beside Niall.

“Hey.” He said when he sat down.

“Hi.” Niall answered dryly and tried to swallow the nervousness.

They didn’t make it further in their conversation before the teacher arrived and started up the lesson.  
After a while, Liam leaned a little towards Niall so he could whisper in his ear.

“Last night was fun.” He said and his insides were doing some sort of circus show. He could see Niall blush slightly and he was suddenly afraid that Niall might not want him, despite Louis assurance.

“It was,” Niall said and turned his head so he could smile at Liam, “but you probably wished that we had watched Toy Story instead, don’t you?” His tone was teasing.

“What do you mean?” Liam asked suspiciously.

“You know, it’s your favorite movie.” Niall kept smiling, but Liam’s smile was long gone.

“How do you know that?” He demanded, because as far as he knew he had only told Nina about that.

“You told me.” Niall said as if it was the most normal thing ever and shrugged.

“No, I… I didn’t tell YOU” Liam said and Niall’s insides went cold. Then he remembered; Liam had told Nina about this, not him.

“I-I-I…!” Niall stuttered, but no words would form. Suddenly everything clicked for Liam; how Nina had cared about Niall, how they had been unavailable at the same time, how Niall had known certain things that Liam couldn’t remember telling him, how they both were blonde and Irish…

“You’re… You’re her, aren’t you?” Liam asked quietly, because he could barely believe it himself. Niall knew he was fucked, so he just nodded as an answer.

“What the FUCK?!” Liam suddenly yelled as everything ran through his mind a second time. Niall flinched a little, because of the yelling and the fact that Liam hardly ever cursed. Liam raised from his seat, he didn’t want to be here anymore. Everyone’s eyes were on him and Niall now.

“No, Liam, let me explain!” Niall sounded desperate, but Liam didn’t care.

“You LIED to me!” He said and stared down at the blonde.

“I only lied about my name and gender, everything else was true, I promise!”

“You said you were from Ireland!” Liam’s blood was basically boiling from the hot anger he felt.

“I am from Ireland!” Niall shouted, his accent thickening with the statement. Liam shook his head and quickly walked out of the classroom, slamming the door after him. He didn’t care if he made a scene; the one person he trusted and had appreciated for his honesty had lied to him for months!

He leaned again the wall and felt the tears starting to fall; no beautiful, slow tears. There tears were hot and violent, angry. The door opened and Liam was ready to punch Niall if it were him. It wasn’t, it was Louis.

“Liam, what happened?” he asked. Liam didn’t cry very often, and he never caused scenes like that.

“It was him all the time!” Liam sobbed and tried to wipe the tears away. “Niall is Nina!”

“What?!” Louis asked in shock, then he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Liam. “I’m so sorry.”

“I always thought he was honest and he lied to me all this time… God, why did I even trust him? He’s just a… a…” Liam had to take a deep breath to keep his shaky rant going. “He’s an idiot.” He said and hugged Louis back.

“I know.” Louis whispered into his shoulder. “You know what I think you should do? I think you should skip the rest of the day, go home and rest, calm down a little. You and Niall can work this out later, okay?” Liam nodded. “Alright, I’m gonna get into class again, but do you make it on your own for now?”

“I’m not a baby Lou” he said with a small, sad chuckle. “Go back to class, I’ll talk to you later.”

Liam went to his locker to get his stuff before he exited the school building and Louis re-entered the classroom. He looked over at Niall, who was grabbing the corner of the table hard enough to make his knuckles white. He was biting his bottom lip to fight the tears that were shining in his eyes. Louis took his seat beside his boyfriend and the teacher continued the lesson like nothing had happened.

“What was that all about?” Harry asked him and Louis sighed.

“Liam have been texting this girl for months and now it turns out it was Niall the whole time.” Louis glared at the Irishman before he looked back at Harry and Zayn. They didn’t look surprised thought, more like guilty.

“Did you know about this?” He asked and they looked guiltier.

“That is so low.” he told them before he grabbed his books and took a seat at the other side of the room. Harry cursed under his breath and Niall shot him and apologetic look. Harry just nodded to confirm the apology while Zayn patted his back to comfort him. Niall had really fucked up this time.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Liam entered his house and prayed that no one would be home. No such luck; his mother came out of the living room as soon as he had closed the door behind him.

“Liam! What are you doing home?” She asked, but Liam just sniffed and went for the stairs and his room. His mother followed. Liam wiped away the tears that were still falling, seriously, how many did he have?

“Please, I need to be alone.” he said and motioned for his mother to step out of his room.

“What happened?” she asked concerned, and Liam just wanted to scream. He had been stabbed in the back, that’s what happened.

“Niall is an asshole.” He mumbled instead.

“What did he do?” Her eyes was curious and worried.

“Please mom, just leave me alone.” he begged and she nodded, stepping out of the room. Liam closed the door and then laid down on the bed. Yes, Niall really was an asshole. It didn’t stop Liam from being in love with him thought.


	15. Chapter 15

Liam was lying in his bed and staring at the ceiling like it was the most interesting surface in the world. He was trying to block out all thoughts of Niall, or otherwise he would lose his head. 

 

It had been two weeks since the day when he had discovered who Nina really was. The day when he had lost two of his best friends; Nina and Niall. And it still hurt as much to think about it. Despite what Louis had said, he hadn’t worked it out with Niall. Lou himself had pretty quickly forgiven his boyfriend and Niall, even listened to the latter’s explanation to why he had done what he had done and he had tried to get Liam to listen too. Liam refused. He knew that he was being stubborn and childish, but the anger was still burning in his chest. He just didn’t think he could face Niall without punching him to China, so to speak.

 

It was Niall all the time. It was Niall that he had told everything, that he had flirted with, who he had fallen in love with - twice! And he just felt so  _stupid_ …

 

Liam glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table. It just turned from 02:59 to 03:00 AM. Did he mention that he had trouble sleeping? Not only because the image of Niall appeared on his retina as soon as he closed his eyes, but also because the blonde was all he dreamed about. Sometimes it was fantasies about him and other times it was memories; older ones of his laugh and smile, or more recent ones of his sad blue eyes from across the corridor. It didn’t matter in the end though; it either had Liam waking up furious or in tears. That was, if he could fall sleep at all. More often than not, his head was swirling with too many thoughts, playing over the events again… like now.

 

He sighed and turned over. His life just seemed so shitty right now, even if nothing was wrong except for his relationship with Niall. It had been eight days since Niall had tried to contact him. He had tried every way though. Liam almost thought that his phone would blow up with all the calls and texts he had received. He had declined every call and deleted every text from ‘Niall Sexlord’, without reading them. He knew his voicemail was full, but he didn’t care. Niall had tried to be sneaky and texted from Louis’ phone, but Liam deleted that as well when he realized that it wasn’t his brown haired best friend who wrote. Niall had even came to his house, but Liam had locked himself into his room and blared out loud music trough his speakers so that all Niall’s words from the other side of the door drowned. He thinks Niall got the hint, because he left pretty quickly and hadn’t bothered Liam since. Even if Liam didn’t want to hear from Niall, he was a bit disappointed too. It was like Niall had given up hope about them, and Liam knew that they would work it out eventually. At least he hoped they would. But what if he couldn’t forgive Niall? What if he couldn’t let go of his anger? What if Niall lied to him again?  _Hurt_  him again?

 

What if?

 

Liam groaned and turned in is bed again, tangling the sheets around himself. He glanced at the clock again; 03:27. This was going to be a long night…

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

“Why can’t you just, for everyone’s sake, forgive him?!” Louis asked. Liam ignored him (like he always did whenever Lou tried to talk about Niall) and just rested his tired head against the table.

 

“Don’t push it.” Zayn told Louis, who seemed to grow more irritated each passing day. It was probably because he couldn’t hang around Harry’s neck 24/7 like he used to, since Zayn and Harry took turns to hang out with Niall, or both at the same time. Louis himself visited Niall on his freetime, Liam was aware of that, but he didn’t care. This thing was between him and Niall, and their friends shouldn’t have to choose.

 

“No, I will push it!” Louis assured Zayn before he forced Liam’s head to the side so they had eye contact. “I just want to know why on earth you could forgive Zayn and Harry, but not Niall. They knew, but didn’t tell you!” 

 

Liam sighed and pulled his head from Louis’ grip. ”Because they were sworn secrecy. Besides, they’re Niall’s best friends, it’s their duty to keep his secrets.”

 

“So you wouldn’t be mad if I had known too?” Louis asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Yes, I would be mad, because you are  _my_  best friend.” Liam explained and Louis shook his head.

 

“I’m  _trying_  to understand your reasoning here, but it ain’t easy.” Louis said and turned his attention to the teacher again. Zayn offered him a small smile before he did the same. It was math lesson again (seriously, didn’t they have any other subjects than maths?) and Liam had switched place with Harry so that he wouldn’t have to sit by Niall. The teacher had silently rolled her eyes at them, at their  _teenage_ _problem_. Liam wouldn’t deny it, it was a teenage problem; they were teenagers after all. But he was a bit irritated that the grownups always thought that their problems weren’t  _important!_  

 

It was important, he was important,  _Niall_  was important. He glanced over at the Irish boy and saw his sad expression. He just wished that he could make it go away, make everything okay, that he could forgive Niall. But he couldn’t, not yet. He was still hurt and most definitely still angry. He couldn’t let go of the anger. He could not stop the aching burn of betrayal in his chest. Not yet.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

“Seriously guys, not in school!” Liam complained.

 

He had walked into the restroom, only to find Louis and Harry in the middle of a hot make out session (but something more was about to happen, if you know what I mean) and while he wasn’t surprised, he wasn’t keen on seeing his ‘almost brother’ being fucked against the wall he was currently pressed against. Harry and Louis stared at him hesitantly, like they didn’t know if they should stop or just ask him to fuck off and keep going.

 

“You know you can get expelled for this, right?” Liam lied, because he knew that school was something Louis certainly cared about. He got the effect he wanted.

 

“What?!” Louis asked and pushed Harry gently off him.

 

“No, Lou, don’t leave!” Harry protested, but Louis only fixed his appearance and gave Harry a small peck on his forehead before he left. Harry groaned.

 

“Thank you.” he said to Liam sarcastically, but there were no sting in his tone.

 

“Sorry mate.” Liam said with a shrug and opened his fly. He made his way to the urinals and pulled out his John Thomas to pee, Harry joining him a couple of urinals away. The door opened and Zayn entered.

 

“What’s up?” he asked and took one of the urinals between them.

 

“Liam told Louis that he would be expelled if we did it in the toilets, so yeah… End of story.” Harry said and Zayn laughed.

 

“Good, I wouldn’t want to walk in on ya…” Zayn eyes wandered to Liam’s dick. “Woah, man, I can see why Niall likes you!” he complimented with a grin. Liam quickly finished and tucked it away in his pants, then he left the restroom.

 

“Dude, why is it that you  _always_  have to say the most inappropriate things?!” Harry asked Zayn, because he had a habit of doing just that.

 

“Uh, I don’t know, I speak before I think, I guess? Or I just don’t care about what people think.” The two friends shared a glance before they began chuckling slightly.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

_“Can I sleep at yours?”_

 

Liam sent the text to Zayn, because as much as he liked Louis, he still had a shit load of sisters at home. And Harry was most likely there anyways.

 

_“Sure man”_

 

Liam took the bus to Zayn. Usually he would walk, because he likes to walk, but it was around 21:40 so it was a bit late for that. It only took 15 minutes with bus anyway, so it didn’t really matter. He didn’t have to wait long from the moment he rang the doorbell to when Zayn opened. He insisted that Liam would have some tea, because it apparently ‘calmed down’ people.

 

“Is everything alright?” Zayn asked.

 

“Yeah, it’s just that my sisters kept replaying a song called ‘First Dance’ and it was Niall’s and mine song so… yeah… And I needed to get out, you know?” Liam explained quickly, but his excuses sounded pretty stupid. But if Zayn thought that too, he didn’t say anything.

 

“Isn’t that a love song?” he asked instead and Liam’s cheeks burned hot.

 

“Uh…”

 

“That’s a yes then. Well, it’s school tomorrow, so we shouldn’t be up too late. Let’s go to bed.”

 

They brushed their teeth and then Liam crawled under the sheets on the mattress on the floor beside Zayn’s bed.

 

“I don’t mean to be pushy,” Zayn started when they had turned the light off, “but this is starting to become pretty ridiculous. Niall has a good explanation if you just listen… Can’t you at least talk to him?”

 

“I would, but I’m still so angry. And I don’t think anything gets better by me yelling at him.” Liam sighed and Zayn was quiet for a while, thinking it over.

 

“You’re right, take your time.” Zayn turned in his bed. “Good night then.”

 

“You too.” Liam whispered out in the dark. He felt the sleep wash over him, and he didn’t know why he suddenly felt better. Maybe it was because he had company, someone sleeping and breathing beside him. It was even more calming to listen to Zayn’s light snores than to drink his weird exotic tea. Liam closed his eyes and soon he was gone, into a dreamworld were phones and lies didn’t exist; only him and Niall on an empty train station. The silence was almost deafening, but neither boy spoke. They just sat on a bench, holding hands and staring at each other. Liam felt calm and peaceful.

 

“This is very intimate.” He whispered to Niall.

 

“I don’t mind.” Niall smiled back. Liam leaned in and gave Niall a small peck on his cheek. This felt oddly familiar, like a memory.

 

Without another word, they turned and watched silently as the trains went by without a sound. This felt good, this felt okay. But Liam knew that when he woke up he would be back in the never ending labyrinth of anger.


	16. Chapter 16

“Okay, me and Zayn are going to fix the popcorn and you prepare here. Deal?” Harry asked Liam, but he knew Harry wouldn’t ever care if he protested. Liam looked around Harry’s living room.

 

“What is there to prepare?” He asked instead.

 

“You know; fluff the cushions, pull down the blinds…” Harry shrugged. “Make it cozy! Just make sure you darken the room.” He retreated to the kitchen. Liam started to pull down the blinds, since the sun was high on the sky.

 

It was only three in the afternoon, but he, Zayn and Harry hadn’t had anything to do so they decided to watch a movie. Louis had said he would visit Niall when he was done babysitting his sisters (his mother worked on Saturdays).

 

Liam decided to join the others in the kitchen, but when he was in the doorway, he stopped.

 

“So, how’s Niall? You were with him last night.” Zayn asked Harry and Liam tried to make no sound so that they wouldn’t understand that he eavesdropped.

 

“Last time I saw him, he was singing ‘Dear Agony’ alone in his room before I interrupted him.” Harry sighed. “He’s just so sad, you know?”

 

“Yeah, I know. But everything will be alright, okay?” Zayn tried to convince him.

 

“It’s been over a month since this started, Zayn. A month!” Harry sounded so frustrated and Zayn tried to calm him down by putting his arm around Harry’s shoulders.

 

“Liam will come around eventually, I’m sure of it. Don’t worry.” He squeezed Harry into a one-armed hug. Liam swallowed soundlessly and walked back into the living room. He felt even guiltier now than before, because now he knew that his friends worried and hurt over this. But Zayn was right; he would come around. The anger had started to fade a little, even if he still had a long way to go. He heard the beep of the microwave from the kitchen that signalled that the popcorn was ready and prepared a fake smile that would hide his newfound guilt.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

Louis arrived at Niall’s house only a bit after three in the afternoon. Bobby was outside, fixing their broken mailbox and greeted Louis with a kind smile. Louis felt weird ringing the doorbell when he already met Niall’s dad, so he just walked right in.

 

“Hello?” he asked softly into the seemingly empty house. No answer. He took a quick walk around the kitchen and the living room, but no one was there. Niall was probably sulking in his room, Louis thought, and made his way up the stairs. 

 

Niall’s bedroom door was almost closed and Louis heard Maura’s voice from in there. He didn’t hear what she said though, so he sneaked closer and stood by the small, open gap of the door.

 

“… and I don’t believe it’s nothing! Your father and I are very worried. We thought that if we gave you some time, maybe it would pass or you would talk to one of us, but you don’t! God, I wish Greg were here…” Maura sounded defeated, desperate.

 

“Okay, I’ll tell you.” Niall suddenly said, startling both Maura and Louis.

 

“You will?” Maura asked, almost as if she didn’t believe it.

 

“Only if you promise you won’t freak out, or…  _judge me._ ” Louis didn’t hear a respond, so he assumed Maura had nodded. Then he heard the slight squeak of Niall’s bed and realized he might get to stand here for a while, because they were up for a confidential talk.

 

“So, last summer, I started to discover that I didn’t really…  _notice_ girls.” Niall started, obviously uncomfortable with this conversation. “And I wanted to try and see if maybe I’m… maybe I like boys. So I started to chat with other guys over the internet, but I found no one who I liked. Until I found this one guy who seemed…  _interesting._ ” It was almost as if Niall squeezed out the words out of his mouth, they sounded forced. “It turned out to be Liam I was talking to, and he seemed to really like me too.”

 

“So what happened? What went wrong? Did he… did he  _do_ anything?” Maura’s voice was worried, she was probably afraid that Liam had hurt her son. Well, he had, but not in any of the ways that were running through her mind right then.

 

“No,  _he_ didn’t do anything.  _I_  did _._  I used a fake identity, a fake name… I lied to him, for months. And then he found out on his own, and he was  _so angry._ He hasn’t talked to me since then, and it just hurts so much to know that I hurt him. I miss him so much, and I’m just so in love with him!” Niall was crying by then, and Louis heard the bed shift. Maura was probably hugging him or wiping his tears away. “So aren’t you surprised or disappointed or anything?” Niall asked with a broken voice.

 

“What would I be disappointed over?” Maura asked softly.

 

“That I’m, you know…  _gay_.” Niall sniffled.

 

“Well, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t expect it.” Maura confessed and Niall chuckled sadly. “You never showed much interest in girls and then you brought Liam home and you… you  _looked_ at him in that way… I can’t really explain it. But you have to know that your dad and I love you just as much, whoever you love. And everyone makes mistakes, honey. This will work out soon, trust me.” Maura assured her son.

 

“Okay.” Niall said and Louis was just about to knock to make his presence known when Maura said something…

 

“But it’s not a reason to stop eating, Niall. You have to eat.” She said and Louis felt anger build up in him. But this anger weren’t directed towards Niall, no, it was towards Liam. He had gotten a month, but he had no right to play the victim card anymore. Louis turned on his heel and quickly made his way out of the house.

 

“Leaving so soon?” Bobby asked him when he passed by.

 

“I got places to be, things to do…  _people to punch…_ ” Louis whispered the last part to himself, and then he set off towards Harry’s house, where he knew Liam was located.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

Harry, Zayn and Liam were halfway through Iron Man 2 when a furious Louis stalked into the living room.

 

“What is it Lou?” Harry asked and stood up from the couch, while Zayn and Liam remained seated.

 

“You!” Louis said and pointed an accusing finger at Liam. Zayn paused the movie. “You need to go talk to Niall, right now! Sort out this mess, fix your problem,  _talk_!” Louis demanded.

 

“Why is it so important now, all of a sudden?” Liam asked.

 

“BecauseNiallstoppedeating!” Louis said, but Liam didn’t hear because of the speed and the mumbling, so he simply raised his eyebrows. Harry, on the other hand, had heard and wasn’t fond of Liam’s reaction. He was quickly standing in front of Liam and slapped him across the face.

 

“Harreh!” Louis shouted, but he didn’t sound angry, more surprised. Liam held his burning cheek and stared at Harry.

 

“What the fuck dude?! Have you lost your mind?!” Zayn asked and Liam was relieved that  _someone_ stood on his side.

 

“ _I_ was going to do that!” Louis said pointedly to Harry.

 

“Why?! What did I do?!” Liam asked frustrated.

 

“Didn’t you hear him?!” Harry asked and waved his hand in Louis’ direction.

 

“No!” Liam answered truthfully.

 

“Niall stopped  _eating!_  That’s not normal!” Harry informed him and Liam paled.

 

Niall, not eating? Because of him? Liam felt how the anger just disappeared, gone out the window, and was instead replaced by an overwhelming worry, and regret, and love and  _damn, he really missed Niall!_

Liam went directly to the hall to put on his shoes, and the other three followed him.

 

“Okay, I’ll go talk to him.” Liam said and could hear the panic in his own voice. He didn’t really know why he was panicking; it wasn’t like Niall was going to die.

 

“Good luck!” Harry said; no sign of his pervious anger. Liam nodded and walked out of the door, thanking God that Harry and Niall lived close to each other.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

It was Bobby who opened the door for Liam, who stood there with a beating heart and a tapping foot, biting his nails out of nervousness.

 

“Hello Liam! Haven’t seen you in a while.” He said with a smile and it didn’t seem like he knew anything.

 

“Is Niall home?” Liam asked even if he already knew the answer.

 

“Yeah, come in.” Liam did as Bobby said and looked around for any signs of the blonde. “He’s in his room.” Bobby told him and Liam nodded, then he headed upstairs. When he walked into Niall room, however, Niall wasn’t there. Just Maura, picking up some laundry. She looked up and he realized that she knew; she had a knowing look and understanding smile.

 

“He’s out on the balcony.” She told him without any questions. Once again, he simply nodded before he left the room and made his way to the balcony room. 

 

Liam could see Niall through the glass door; he was leaning on the railing, looking out over the garden. Liam could only see his back, but his whole posture looked sad. He hesitated with his hand on the door handle, but then he took a deep breath and pushed it down. Niall turned around at the sound and almost choked on his own spit when he saw Liam.

 

“Liam!” He said in a surprised voice.

 

“Hi.” Liam half whispered. He didn’t know why he was being so quiet and cleared his throat. “Um…” but he didn’t get a chance to say anything before Niall beat him to it.

 

“I am so sorry! I know it was stupid, but let me explain!” He pleaded, and Liam nodded - again. It felt like it was all he could do today; nod and listen and do as everyone say.

 

“I didn’t plan on running into you on that chat site, it just happened, and I was going to tell you it was me, I was! But then you started to talk about me, and I wanted to get you to like me, to give me a chance. Then I went on with it too long; I let it go too far. I didn’t know what to do… I don’t have a good explanation for this, I just know that I never wanted to hurt you… So, I’m sorry.” Niall’s little speech had been sad and desperate, but also hopeful.

 

“I’m sorry too; I shouldn’t have reacted that way.” Liam said and wished he could just take his actions back. “But Niall, you have to eat…” He didn’t come far before Niall cut him off.

 

“If that’s the only reason why you’re here, you can leave.” Niall said as turned around to watch the garden again.

 

“No, no, no, no!” Liam assured him and walked up to Niall so he was standing directly behind him. Niall didn’t turn around though. “Turn around.” Liam said and Niall slowly did, but he stubbornly kept his eyes on Liam’s left shoulder. “Please look at me.” Liam begged, because he wanted to see the emotions in Niall’s crystal eyes when he confessed his forgiveness and love. Niall hesitated for a second or two, but then he met Liam’s eyes.

“I liked you a lot when you were  _her_ , but I think I might have liked you even more when you were… Uh…  _you_.” Liam licked his lips nervously. “And do you know how…” He paused a moment to find the right word, “…  _frustrating_  it is to be in love with two persons at the same time?” He finished with a small smile. Niall stared at him.

 

“You’re in love with me?” he asked in disbelief.

 

“I am.” He simply said and Niall pretty much attack him with a tight hug and kisses. Their first kiss wasn’t slow and passionate, or messy. It was just sweet and normal, but that didn’t keep it from being perfect and wonderful. 

 

They weren’t sure how long they stood there, tangled with each other, kissing. They just couldn’t get enough; it was like a drug they had suddenly become addicted to.

 

They didn’t stop until they heard a small laugh behind them.

 

“I’m gone for a year and you turned gay? Not bad.” Greg said with a grin, two big bags still hanging from either of his shoulders.

 

“Greg!” Niall shouted and left Liam to embrace his brother. Well, he pretty much jumped on Greg, who dropped his two bags to wrap his arms around his little brother. “I thought you wouldn’t be home until next week!”

 

“Well, I wanted to surprise you, and obviously I did.” Greg said and untangled himself and Niall so that he could reach out a hand for Liam to shake. “Hi, I’m Greg, Niall brother.” He told Liam with a smile. Liam didn’t hesitate a second to grab Greg’s hand and present himself.

 

“I’m Liam, Niall’s boyfriend.” He told Greg, and Niall felt the butterflies fluttering in his stomach. Liam was his boyfriend.

 

“Ah, nice to meet you. Well, I’m going to go and unpack, but I’ll catch you later?” Greg asked and looked between the two boyfriends.

 

“Of course!” Niall said and then Greg was gone. The blonde turned to Liam with a big smile. “Hello boyfriend.” He said and Liam couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“Now you’re being silly.” Liam told him, but Niall just closed the distance between them again.

 

“So,” Liam started when he broke away from the kiss, “do you want to stay here with your brother or would you like to come with me to the train station?”

 

“Train station?” Niall asked and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

 

“Yeah, I had a dream that I want to come true.” Liam explained and Niall began to chuckle.

 

“Either you are being very cute right now, or very, very perverse.” Niall told him, and Liam giggled.

 

“I would say cute.” he said and wrapped an arm around Niall’s shoulders.


	17. Epilogue

It was early August and Niall was having late breakfast with his brother. This didn’t necessarily mean that he ate anything thought; he was just casting nervous glances at the clock on the wall every two minutes, eyes speeding across the room over and over again, Greg could almost hear Niall’s heart pumping unnaturally fast and well, he was pretty sure his little brother was going crazy…! Or, he was very nervous.

 

“What are you so nervous about?” Greg asked and broke the pressuring silence, causing Niall to jump a little.

 

“W-what do you mean? I’m not n-nervous.” Niall stuttered and brought a hand to his mouth to bite on his nails. Greg rolled his eyes.

 

“Niall, come on, you can tell me!” He assured, but Niall seemed hesitant. “I promise to not tell mom or dad.” he promised and Niall glanced around the kitchen before he leant over the table to get closer to Greg, who did the same.

 

“You know Liam and I haven’t told his parents yet, right?” he whispered and Greg nodded. “Well, they are out of town until tomorrow afternoon, and Liam’s sisters miraculously decided to spend the night at some friend’s house. You know what this means; Liam and I are going to have the house to ourselves.” Niall gave Greg a meaningful look.

 

“Oh, you are gonna…?” Greg trailed off and did some weird hand motion that Niall hoped he would never have to see again.

 

“Yeah, we are going to… Go all the way.” Niall huffed out a small laugh. “I don’t really understand why I’m so nervous, it’s not like it’s the first time I do it.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

 

“Well, it’s the first time you do it with a guy.” Greg shrugged.

 

“Yeah, and the first time it actually means something, you know?” Niall explained and Greg nodded. “Is it weird for you that we talk about this?” Niall asked and blushed slightly.

 

“It’s a little weird, but I can handle it. Besides, it’s time for ‘big brother duty’” Greg straightened up in his seat and cleared his throat. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do, it’s never too late to back out, be careful and use protection!” He said with a small smile. The speech sounded a bit rehearsed, like he had waited a long time to tell Niall this.

 

“Thanks?” Niall said, but it turned out as a question. He turned back to his untouched food and tried to find something to eat, something to push down in his nervously dry throat. But what the hell was he supposed to eat right before he, you know… had sex? Sure, he done it before with some meaningless girls (which he regrets now) and it wasn’t like he and Liam had refrained themselves. No, they had hardly been able to keep away from each other (which caused some difficulties in school) and had pretty quickly…  _tried_  things. Let’s just say that Niall’s deep throating skills came well in handy.

 

“You won’t eat.” Greg pointed out.

 

“I’m nervous.” Niall admitted with a shrug.

 

“Have you noticed that Liam is always the reason for you to stop eating?” Greg asked, but Niall didn’t answer. He looked at the clock instead, which caused Greg to sigh.

 

“Stop staring at that damn clock!” he demanded. “And stop tapping your foot! Shit, just get out of here, go shower or something!”

 

“You’re a dick.” Niall said and started to make his way out of the room.

 

“You like dick.” Greg grinned and Niall flipped him off in the doorway, but didn’t protest against Greg’s statement.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

”Bye mom, bye dad!” Liam yelled and waved at the car backing out of the driveway. As soon as they were out of eyesight he pulled out his phone and texted Niall that the coast was clear. He walked into his house and tried to find different task to do to calm his nerves; doing the dishes, picking up some laundry, brushing his teeth three times, fixing his hair in the mirror over and over, and pacing around in circles. When the doorbell finally signaled that Niall was there he practically ran to the door. Niall barely had a chance to step inside the house before Liam had him locked in a tight embrace. He breathed in the brunette’s heavenly smell and sighed with happiness.

 

“I missed you.” He mumbled into Liam’s shoulder, even if it had only been two days since they had seen each other.

 

“I missed you too.” Liam said and bumped his nose with Niall’s. “You’re here early.” He pointed out.

 

“Yeah, Greg offered to drive me, but I should have said no.” Niall shuddered theatrically. “Thank God I got out of that car.”

 

“What do you mean?” Liam asked.

 

“I told Greg what we are going to do… you okay with that by the way?” Liam nodded. “Okay, so, he noticed that I was nervous and tried to calm me down by telling me stories of when he… you know, and all the things that had gone wrong over the years. It wasn’t only embarrassing, but it also got me even more nervous and it feels like we are never going to get through this with a good end result!”

 

“Hey,” Liam cupped Niall’s face, “if you don’t want to, or feel that you’re not ready, we can wait, okay?”

 

“No, I want to, I’m just a bit scared that it won’t be good, or that  _I_ won’t be good, or that you won’t be careful and accidentally hurt me.” Niall rambled and Liam hugged him tightly.

 

“It’s good that we can talk about these things, you know? Imagine those couples who are afraid to voice their thoughts.”

 

“Yeah… but I want to do it, I really do, I’m just nervous.”

 

“I promise to be careful, Nialler. I would never hurt you. As soon as you want me to stop, you tell me, okay?” Liam pulled away and tried to look into Niall’s avoiding eyes.

 

“Okay.” Niall said and bit his bottom lip. Their eyes locked and they stood there quietly, watching as a new emotion started to form in the other’s eyes. Lust. Liam’s eyes scanned over Niall’s body, and when his gaze reached the blonde’s face he saw a little smirk on his pink lips. He raised a brown eyebrow, almost as a question. Niall licked his lips seductively, and that was all Liam needed to see to know that it was safe to capture his boyfriend’s lips and push him up against the closed front door. They could barely get upstairs to Liam’s room with their racing hearts, shaking legs and searching hands. When they fell onto the bed, half naked, Niall finally took some time to form a thought.

 

“Did Louis give you the stuff?” he breathed out, referring to the condoms and lube that they had bribed Louis into buying for them.

 

“He did.” Liam confirmed and pulled the articles out of a drawer in his nightstand. “Promise to tell me if you want me to stop.”

 

“I promise.” Niall agreed.

 

But he didn’t tell Liam to stop; it sounded more like  _“don’t stop”._

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

Niall was staring up in Liam’s bedroom ceiling with a smile. It had been a bit weird, a bit awkward, but pretty good actually. He felt the weight of Liam’s head on his stomach and shuddered a little when Liam blew some air into his bellybutton. He tangled one hand into Liam’s brown locks and the other one was already holding his boyfriend’s.

 

“Should we go again?” he asked and Liam laughed into his stomach, which sent ticklish vibrations through his body.

 

“It couldn’t have been  _that_ good.” Liam said and turned his head so that he could see Niall from his stomach.

 

“It wasn’t great, but you know what they say; the more you do it, the better it gets.” Niall winked and Liam smiled sweetly.

 

“Relax; we have all night and tomorrow morni-“ Liam was cut off by a loud growl from Niall’s stomach. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

 

“Okay, so maybe I didn’t eat before I came here.” Niall confessed before Liam could say anything.

 

“Niall! Sex is a real burst of effort; it takes a lot of energy. You can’t just not eat before you do it!” Liam sat up to give Niall a strong look.

 

“Are you seriously scolding me for this?” But before Liam could answer, Niall’s stomach growled again.

 

“Do you want me to get you something?” Liam asked and patted Niall’s stomach affectionately.

 

“No, it’s okay, I’ll get it myself.” Niall smiled and started to stand up.

 

 “Are you sure?” Liam looked at him with worried eyes.

 

“I’m going to the bathroom anyway, and you were careful enough that it probably won’t hurt much to walk. Now, where are my clothes?” Niall started to look around the room where their clothes were scattered.

 

“You don’t need them; no one’s home. Besides, I think you look better naked.” Liam smirked and Niall turned his back to him, smacking his own white ass before he exited the room and left his boyfriend huddled in the sheets.

 

When Niall walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs, he felt a bit awkward going around Liam’s house  _naked._  But it felt nice too; he felt more grown up. The sex hadn’t been quick or messy and afterwards he could walk around the house in his birthday suit. But now he really needed to eat, so he steered his feet toward the kitchen. He didn’t get that far. The front door started to open when Niall was between the stairs and the kitchen, and Niall froze. Liam’s mom stepped into the house and a second later she noticed the naked boy in front of her. Niall’s hands quickly covered his genitals and Karen stared at him in shock. Geoff tried to make his way through the door and nearly walked into his wife. When he noticed her frozen state, he hurriedly found the source of her shock. His eyes widened comically at the sight, and Niall was ready to come up with  _any_  excuse right then and there, but of course Liam had to ruin that plan.

 

 _“Niall, hurry up, I want some more post-coitus cuddle!”_ He yelled from upstairs and Niall simply closed his eyes, because he knew that now they were completely and utterly  _screwed_.

 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

 

“It was just so embarrassing.” Liam sighed and accepted the cup of tea that Zayn offered him.

 

“Excuse me, but it wasn’t you who stood naked in front of your parents!” Niall said and Louis snorted. “This isn’t funny!” Niall told him, which only made him and Harry burst out in a hysterical laughter. Liam and Niall looked up at Zayn, daring him to join the laughing fit. He bit his bottom lip to keep any sound from escaping.

 

“Why did they even come home in the first place? I thought you said they would be out of town?” Zayn asked and Harry put a hand over his mouth to stop his laughing, Louis following his example.

 

“His dad got ill.” Niall answered and rolled his eyes. “How can we have such bad luck?”

 

“So what happened when you told them you were together?” Louis asked.

 

“Well, my dad practically yelled ‘I told you so’ in my mom’s face, but-“ Liam was cut off by Harry and Louis losing it. They laughed until they couldn’t breathe and tears were streaming down their faces, and this time Zayn didn’t hold back his own laugh. Liam and Niall caught each other’s eyes and smiled. Everything had gone okay, even if things had been obviously awkward at Liam’s house.

 

Liam’s parents had called him downstairs (and didn’t forget to tell him to bring some clothes down for Niall) and then they had settled down in the living room to talk. Sure, Liam’s parents had felt a bit left out when they learned that the boys had secretly dating for almost five months, especially when Niall’s family knew, but except for that they had given Liam a small speech about always loving him. As soon as they were done, Liam and Niall had fled the house and called their friends to meet up at Zayn house, where they had re-told the events of the day. The four of them had all squeezed down in Zayn’s couch while Zayn served them some of his famous exotic tea.

 

“But they were okay with it?” Harry asked when he had caught his breath from laughing.

 

“Yeah, next step is school.” Niall said and cuddled up closer to Liam.

 

“I’m actually not that worried about what they will think. Besides, our school is very open-minded; they didn’t have anything against Louis and Harry so they probably won’t have a problem with us.” Liam smiled and entwined his fingers with Niall’s.

 

“The only thing I’m worried about is poor Zayn’s reputation.” Niall said and Zayn chuckled a little.

 

“I don’t think we need to worry about that; I’ve met someone.” He said with a small smile.

 

“You have?!” Louis asked and all four turned to look at Zayn.

 

“Yeah, her name is Perrie. I didn’t want to tell you guys in case nothing came out of it, but it did. We’re dating.” The smile on Zayn face was so adorable that probably everyone in the room wanted to kiss him, but of course they didn’t.

 

“Congratulations!” The four of them screamed at the same time and then they scooted up from the couch to make a group hug.

 

“Okay, okay, that’s enough!” Zayn said with a laugh after a few minutes. “Anyone wants anything from the kitchen?” he asked.

 

“Yes, please! I haven’t eaten today. Make me a sandwich, woman!”

 

“Shut up Niall!” Zayn said before he retreated to the kitchen.

 

They sat back down in the couch. Louis and Liam were having a pretty loud conversation when Niall suddenly caught a sound.

 

“Guys, be quiet for a second.” He told them and everyone fell silent. From the kitchen they could hear Zayn singing quietly for himself, and he was damn good too.

 

“Niall, here’s your- what?” Zayn asked when he came out of the kitchen and found his friends staring at him.

 

“This seals it!” Liam said and everyone turned their eyes to look confused at him. “Niall is good at singing, I am good at singing, so is Louis and Harry, and now we know that Zayn are too. We’re starting a band!” he announced.

 

“With five singers?” Louis asked skeptically, but Liam ignored him.

 

“What should we call ourselves?” he asked instead, eyes shining with excitement.

 

“Uh,  _Zayn and the four homosexuals_?” Niall asked and Zayn nodded.

 

“No!” Harry protested. “ _One Direction_ , it sounds better.”

 

“You forget the small detail that we go in two different directions.” Zayn pointed out.

 

“No, we all go in one direction; toward happiness.” Harry said.

 

“Towards fame.” Louis smiled.

 

“One band.” Liam said, his voice becoming slightly ceremonious.

 

“One dream.” Niall filled in, and then he and the others turned to Zayn.

 

“One Direction” He sighed. “Okay, it does sound good. So, when do we start our hunt for fame?”

 

“When we get an opportunity… Maybe we should finish school first?” Liam suggested.

 

“This is kinda random.” Niall said and took a large bite of his sandwich.

 

“But it sounds fun; singing together.” Louis said and the rest agreed.

 

Niall sat down in Liam’s lap and Liam leaned in and started to whisper-sing ‘first dance’ in his ear.

“It started with your hips, then I moved up to your lips-“ But he was abruptly cut off by Zayn.

 

“NO! Ugh! Don’t sing that again! I had it stuck on my head for three days last time! Just shut up!” He shouted and the rest stared to chuckle, amused.

 

It had been a long road, and quite messy. But in the end it was all worth it, because the moment right there; laughing together with your friends with you loved one in your arms, was perfect. They would meet problems and there would be a lot of bumps in their road, they might not even stay together. But right now they would enjoy their time loving each other.

 

“Guess what?” Niall whispered in Liam’s ear.

 

“What?”

 

“You’re amazing.” He mumbled and kissed Liam’s temple. Liam felt a wave of overwhelming love wash through him and he wouldn’t mind staying in this moment forever. In that second he realized that he would always do anything in his power to keep this wonderful man by his side, and while people might think that he was too young to know that, he knew that it was true. He loved Niall, but he was going to keep that knowledge to himself for a while. Not too long thought, he would probably splutter it out any minute now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this epilogue, leave me alone x( But I posted it on tumblr/wattpad months ago, so it's not like I can change it


End file.
